Page 124 - Christie's Inidian and HImalayan Works of Art, March 2019

685
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF PADMAPANI LOKESHVARA
NEPAL, EARLY MALLA PERIOD, 14TH CENTURY
19√ in. (50.5 cm.) high
$120,000-180,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired in the Hong Kong art market, 1996

Avalokiteshvara, the “Lord who looks upon the World,” is the bodhisattva of Indian tradition of showing him seated. The style is further characterized by
compassion, and one of the principle deities in Mahayana Buddhism. Although the lithe form of the body and the swaying hips, with the head tilted to the side,
he has attained enlightenment like the Buddha, the bodhisattva forgoes his resulting in a graceful curvilinear form. The dhoti billows in voluminous folds
escape from the sufering of rebirth to act as a guide to all living beings until between the legs and is secured across the thighs with a loosely-draped sash,
they themselves have achieved nirvana. Worshipped in many guises, here he while the sacred thread hangs from the shoulder across the torso and thighs.
is depicted as Padmapani Lokeshvara, the “lord that holds the lotus.” Like
the lotus, which rises from its murky bed below the water to blossom in the The sculpture of the early Malla period, starting from the second half of the
pristine air, Padmapani has detached himself from the pain and impurities of twelfth century through the ffteenth century, is characterized by pronounced
the material world and is enlightened in body, speech, and mind. musculature and elaborate ornamentation. Images of Padmapani Lokeshvara,
in particular, have wider and more rounded thighs and broader shoulders.
Worshipped in Nepal from at least the mid-sixth century, Avalokiteshvara was The face of the present example, however, is closely related to a bronze
one of the most popular Buddhist deities in the Kathmandu Valley. Demand fgure of Padmapani Lokeshvara at the Victoria & Albert Museum (acc. no.
for images of this auspicious bodhisattva was great and from an early period, IM.239-1922), dated to the fourteenth century; both share large hoop earrings,
craftsmen throughout the valley were executing works in wood, stone, paint, pronounced arching brows, and elongated foliate diadems and chignons.
and bronze. The deity is nearly always depicted standing, in contrast to the
Himalayan Art Resources (himalayanart.org), item no. 24503.

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