Page 29 - Sporer Collection of Himalayan bronzes

8
A SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FIGURE OF A
BODHISATTVA
NORTHEASTERN INDIA, PALA PERIOD, 12TH CENTURY

Seated with his right knee up on a lotus base with
offset petals and holding a lotus stem in the left
hand, wearing a striped dhoti with wavy pleats, the
face with silver-inlaid eyes and urna, fanked by
elongated lobes and surmounted by a tiara
3ƒ in. (8.5 cm.) high

$8,000-12,000

PROVENANCE:

The Sporer Collection, New Jersey, acquired
between 1962 and 1985

Compare with a similar sculpture of a bodhisattva
from the Pala period (U. von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan
Bronzes, 2008, pp.282-283, fg.69D). For an example
of the persistence of the inlay tradition in Northeastern
India and its transmission into the Himalayas, see an
18th century sculpture of Manjushri from Tibet (lot 40).

THE SPORER COLLECTION OF HIMALAYAN SCULPTURE 27