Page 22 - Bonhams Himalayan, Indian Art march 2015

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A copper alloy figure of Avalokiteshvara
West Tibet or China, 7th/8th century
The sinuous figure dressed in elegant robes and scarves and adorned with beaded necklaces
and garlands, with eight heads arranged in a tiara, one projecting from the top and another at
the back, the primary face with full-rounded cheeks and arching brows, all supported by an
octagonal base with layers of lotus petals.
6 1/4 in. (16.5 cm) high
$60,000 - 80,000

The origins of Eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara are mired in mystery. However, one of the
deity’s earliest representations, dating to the 5th century, is situated in the Kanheri cave-
chapel in Western India. Travelling along the Silk Road, the Ekadasamukham - the earliest text
associated with the deity - was found in Gilgit dating to the 5th/6th century. By the mid-7th
century, the image became popular in China following the Buddhist translations of the Chinese
pilgrim Xuanzang. In parallel, the depiction of the deity’s multiple heads changed from an
‘Indian’ vertical stack to a new ‘tiara’ or ‘crown style’ favored in China – as seen in Dunhuang.

The present example clearly exhibits the 7th-century Tang dynasty style, drawing clear
similarities with Chinese sculptures of Avalokiteshvara with a single head (cf. Reedy, Himalayan
Bronzes, Cranbury, 1997, p. 260, U 335); and an example in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
(EA 2000.24)). However, the modeling of the base, his face, and the leaded bronze alloy it is
made of, lead Chandra Reedy and Deborah Klimburg-Salter to suggest a Western Tibetan
provenance. (cf. Reedy, op. cit., p. 181; Klimburg-Salter, The Silk Route and the Diamond
Path, Los Angeles, 1982, p. 178, pl. 94.)

Comparisons can be drawn with a 7th-century wood sculpture from Toyuk (Kocho Oasis) held
in the Dahlem Museum of Asian Art, Berlin. A related figure from Kocho in the Museum Für
Indische Kunst (MIK III 539) has the same pedestal structure (see Hartel, Along the Ancient Silk
Routes, New York, 1982, p. 165, no. 101).

Much about this rare figure remains to be researched, in particular, the projecting head at the
back. The head’s peaked cap suggests Sogdian influence, but no other Sogdian sculpture is
known to survive. This important bronze stands as one of the earliest transitional sculptures
recorded from the region.

Referenced
HAR – himalayanart.org/image.cfm/41248.html

Published
Deborah E. Klimburg, The Silk Route and the Diamond Path: Esoteric Buddhist Art on the
Trans-Himalayan Trade Routes, Los Angeles, 1982, p. 178, pl. 94.
Chandra L. Reedy, Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style and Choices, Newark, 1997, p. 181,
no. W115.

Exhibited
The Silk Route and the Diamond Path: Esoteric Buddhist Art on the Trans-Himalayan Trade
Routes; Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles, Nov. 7, 1982 -
Jan. 2, 1983; Asia Society Gallery, Feb. 6 - Apr. 3, 1983; National Museum of Natural History,
National Museum of Man, Smithsonian Institution, Apr. 28 - June 30, 1983.

Provenance
Private Californian Collection

20 | BONHAMS