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The back of the sculpture also reflects critical aspects of its history. Beautifully cast but
                               relatively unfinished, it includes three metal plates covering openings where consecration
                               materials were inserted into the hollow-cast, lost-wax sculpture. This practice, unknown in the
                               Kathmandu Valley but commonly practiced in Tibet, is also seen in Khasa Malla works that
                               were brought to the West Tibetan regions of their kingdom. Likewise, the blue pigment in the
                               hair is a common feature in Tibetan culture but not used in Kathmandu Valley works. It appears
                               in other Khasa Malla bronzes, including an Avalokiteshvara sculpture in the Claire Ritter
                               Collection, New York and in a Shadakshari Lokeshvara sculpture in the Mr. and Mrs. John
                               Gilmore Ford Collection, Baltimore.12 At least three other Khasa Malla sculptures represent
                               Shadakshari Lokeshvara.13 The use of turquoise, the stone predominately featured in this
                               sculpture, is unusual but not unprecedented in Khasa Malla sculpture.14

                               Jane Casey, January 2015

                               1. Stella Kramrisch, The Art of Nepal, New York, 1964, fig. 51.
                               2. Published in Helmut Uhlig, On The Path to Enlightenment, Zurich, 1995, no. 64, pp. 112-
                               13. It is possible that in the Bonhams Avalokiteshvara, both (now missing) lotus stems were
                               held in the upper hands.
                               3. See B. Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography (New Delhi, 2008), p. 178. He
                               states in his seminal publication, first published in 1924, that images of Shadaksari Lokeshvara
                               abound in Nepal, “both in groups and singly...and almost every monastery at Kathmandu
                               and Patan has got one in it.” Op. cit., p. 35. If the artist of this sculpture indeed intended to
                               represent Shadakshari Lokeshvara, the upper right hand would also have held a rosary (mala),
                               fashioned in another material and now missing.
                               4. The Indian Buddhist Iconography (New Delhi, 2008), Appendix B.
                               5. S.K. Saraswati, Tantrayana Art: An Album (Calcutta, 1977), p. XXVI.
                               6. Pratapaditya Pal, Nepal Where the Gods are Young (New York, 1975), fig. 16, pp. 74-75.
                               7. Published in Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment, no. 97, p. 152.
                               8. Published in Amy Heller, Early Himalayan Art (Oxford, 2008), pl. 9, pp. 62-63; and fig. 22, p. 36.
                               9. Personal communication, Ian Alsop. See also Ian Alsop, “The Metal Sculpture of the Khasa
                               Mallas of West Nepal/West Tibet” asianart.com. Alsop discusses this feature on Khasa Malla
                               sculpture in op. cit., figures 4, 5. See also Ian Alsop, “The Metal Sculpture of the Khasa Malla
                               Kingdom”, Orientations Magazine (June 1994): 61-68; and “Metal Sculpture of the Khasa
                               Mallas” in Jane Casey Singer and Philip Denwood, eds. Tibetan Art: Towards a Definition of
                               Style (London, 1997), pp. 68-79.
                               10. Amy Heller, Hidden Treasures of the Himalayas (Chicago, 2009), p. 23.
                               11. Alsop, “The Metal Sculpture of the Khasa Mallas of West Nepal/West Tibet” asianart.com,
                               fig. 1.
                               12. Ian Alsop, “Metal Sculpture of the Khasa Mallas of West Nepal/West Tibet” asianart.com,
                               figs. 7, 8.
                               13. See figures 8, 9 in Alsop, “The Metal Sculpture of the Khasa Mallas of West Nepal/West
                               Tibet” asianart.com, and in an unpublished example in the Crocker Museum.
                               14. Ian Alsop, personal communication.

                               Referenced
                               HAR – himalayanart.org/image.cfm/41223.html

                               Published
                               Stella Kramrisch, The Art of Nepal, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1965, no. 51.
                               Carlton Rochell, Ltd., Indian and Southeast Asian Art: Selections from Robert and Bernice
                               Dickes Collection, New York, 2010
                               Nancy Tingley, Celestial Realms: The Art of Nepal, Sacramento, 2012, no. 16.

                               Provenance
                               William H. Wolff, New York before 1965
                               Robert and Bernice Dickes Collection New York
                               Carlton Rochell, Ltd, 2010
                               Private Californian Collection

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