7th Mar, 2025 11:00
A Museum Treasury of Buddhist and Himalayan Art: The Peter Kienzle-Hardt Collection Part I
47
A MONUMENTAL (142 CM) PARCEL-GILT COPPER AND SILVER REPOUSSÉ GRAIN MANDALA SET, TIBET, 20TH CENTURY
This lot is a museum deaccession and is therefore offered without reserve
€5,000
€10,000
A buyer’s premium of 30.00% (including VAT) applies to the hammer price of this lot if your bid is successful.
Constructed of separately crafted stackable sections, the splayed foot surmounted by a wide circular base supporting four cylindrical elements topped by a tall finial adorned with ornate lotus bands, beaded swags, and sashes below a drop-shaped panel. Each is finely chased and incised with foliate scroll interspersed by silver flowerheads and gilt cartouches enclosing the Eight Buddhist Emblems, framed by beaded rims. The finial is neatly inlaid with turquoise and red-colored beads.
Provenance: The Kienzle Family Collection, Stuttgart, Germany. Acquired between 1950 and 1985 by siblings Else (1912-2006), Reinhold (1917-2008), and Dr. Horst Kienzle (1924-2019), during their extensive travels in Asia. Subsequently inherited by Dr. Horst Kienzle and bequeathed to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, Germany. Released through museum deaccession in 2024. The Kienzle siblings were avid travelers and passionate collectors of Asian and Islamic art. During their travels, the Kienzle’s sought out and explored temples, monasteries, and markets, always trying to find the best pieces wherever they went, investing large sums of money and forging lasting relationships to ensure they could acquire them. Their fervor and success in this pursuit is not only demonstrated by their collection but further recorded in correspondences between Horst Kienzle and several noted dignitaries, businesses and individuals in Nepal and Ladakh. Their collection had gained renown by the 1970s, but the Kienzle’s stopped acquiring new pieces around 1985. Almost thirty years later, the collection was moved to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, opened by Peter Hardt in 2014. Before his death in 2019, Horst Kienzle bequeathed his entire property to Peter Hardt and legally adopted him as his son, who has been using the name Peter Kienzle-Hardt ever since.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear, traces of use, and manufacturing irregularities including luting lines and metal patches. Note that this lot has been professionally cleaned by a noted conservator.
Dimensions: Height approx. 142 cm (not filled), Diameter 98 cm (the circular base)
This grain mandala set consists of six copper repoussé components, which when stacked together with quantities of a small, valued particle—such as rice, barley, or other grains or pulses; powdered medicinal herbs or pills; or gemstones, pearls, or coins—collectively symbolize the offering of the entire universe, in the Buddhist ritual known as the mandala offering. Together, the imagery of the base, three rings, and finial represents Mount Meru—the axis mundi in Buddhist cosmology—and its surrounding universe, filled with the auspicious items being ritually offered.
The act of offering wealth to the universe is the highest ritual expression of devotion in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The practitioners create a 'grain mandala' of thirty-seven heaps of saffron-colored rice upon this circular base.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related smaller parcel-gilt silver grain mandala set, dated 19th-20th century, 20 cm high, in the Walters Art Museum, accession number 57.2334.
Constructed of separately crafted stackable sections, the splayed foot surmounted by a wide circular base supporting four cylindrical elements topped by a tall finial adorned with ornate lotus bands, beaded swags, and sashes below a drop-shaped panel. Each is finely chased and incised with foliate scroll interspersed by silver flowerheads and gilt cartouches enclosing the Eight Buddhist Emblems, framed by beaded rims. The finial is neatly inlaid with turquoise and red-colored beads.
Provenance: The Kienzle Family Collection, Stuttgart, Germany. Acquired between 1950 and 1985 by siblings Else (1912-2006), Reinhold (1917-2008), and Dr. Horst Kienzle (1924-2019), during their extensive travels in Asia. Subsequently inherited by Dr. Horst Kienzle and bequeathed to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, Germany. Released through museum deaccession in 2024. The Kienzle siblings were avid travelers and passionate collectors of Asian and Islamic art. During their travels, the Kienzle’s sought out and explored temples, monasteries, and markets, always trying to find the best pieces wherever they went, investing large sums of money and forging lasting relationships to ensure they could acquire them. Their fervor and success in this pursuit is not only demonstrated by their collection but further recorded in correspondences between Horst Kienzle and several noted dignitaries, businesses and individuals in Nepal and Ladakh. Their collection had gained renown by the 1970s, but the Kienzle’s stopped acquiring new pieces around 1985. Almost thirty years later, the collection was moved to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, opened by Peter Hardt in 2014. Before his death in 2019, Horst Kienzle bequeathed his entire property to Peter Hardt and legally adopted him as his son, who has been using the name Peter Kienzle-Hardt ever since.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear, traces of use, and manufacturing irregularities including luting lines and metal patches. Note that this lot has been professionally cleaned by a noted conservator.
Dimensions: Height approx. 142 cm (not filled), Diameter 98 cm (the circular base)
This grain mandala set consists of six copper repoussé components, which when stacked together with quantities of a small, valued particle—such as rice, barley, or other grains or pulses; powdered medicinal herbs or pills; or gemstones, pearls, or coins—collectively symbolize the offering of the entire universe, in the Buddhist ritual known as the mandala offering. Together, the imagery of the base, three rings, and finial represents Mount Meru—the axis mundi in Buddhist cosmology—and its surrounding universe, filled with the auspicious items being ritually offered.
The act of offering wealth to the universe is the highest ritual expression of devotion in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The practitioners create a 'grain mandala' of thirty-seven heaps of saffron-colored rice upon this circular base.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related smaller parcel-gilt silver grain mandala set, dated 19th-20th century, 20 cm high, in the Walters Art Museum, accession number 57.2334.
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Auction: A Museum Treasury of Buddhist and Himalayan Art: The Peter Kienzle-Hardt Collection Part I, 7th Mar, 2025
NEW: WATCH OUR VIDEO ABOUT THE PROVENANCE
This treasury of art, assembled over decades by the Kienzle siblings and perserved by their sole heir Peter Kienzle-Hardt, reflects not only their fascination with Asian culture but also their respect for the heritage of the regions they explored. Learn more.
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