Page 24 - Bonhams Himalayan, Indian Art march 2015

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A copper alloy figure of Avalokiteshvara
Swat valley, 8th/9th century
Wearing patterned silks, seated on a lotus plinth supported by benign lions, holding a lotus
and displaying the gesture of charity, his eyes inlaid with silver below a vajra-crown.
5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm) high
$20,000 - 30,000
The Swat Valley served as an important repository for Buddhism after the Huns swept through
the Kushan Empire in the 6th century, destroying many monasteries within the ancient
region of Gandhara. Spanning the 7th and 10th centuries, the small corpus of Swat bronzes
demonstrates an adaptive artistic tradition responding to nearby regional styles, such as
the Gandhara, Gupta, and Kashmir. With its rich copper alloy and long, slender eyes, the
comparison with Kashmir bronzes is most noticeable in this example.
Compare with a closely related example of Maitreya in the Nelson-Atkins Museum ascribed
to Kashmir, 9th century, and another Maitreya in the British Museum, attributed to Swat
Valley, 8th-9th century, published in Pal, Bronzes of Kashmir, New Delhi, 1975, pp. 127
and 201, nos. 41 and 76.
Also compare the treatment of the lion-supported plinths to a number of examples held in The
Palace Museum, Beijing and published in Gugong bowuyuan cang: wenwu zhenpin quanji; 60:
Zangchuan fojiao zaoxiang, Hong Kong, 2008, pp. 10-6, nos. 9-15.
Referenced
HAR – himalayanart.org/image.cfm/41245.html
Provenance
Sotheby’s, London, 11 October 1991, lot 535
Private Collection, New York

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