Page 13 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013

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A copper alloy figure of Padmapani
Western Tibet, 11th/12th century
Standing in tribhangha pose with his right hand
raised in abhaya mudra and the left holding a
lotus stem, dressed in a dhoti incised with linear
and roundel designs tied at his muscular waist
and with a central pleat falling between the
legs, adorned with a heart-shaped pendant at
the center of a beaded necklace and a complete
garland hanging from his shoulders down to
his knees, his face with lips of inlaid copper and
eyes of inlaid silver surmounted by a triple-leaf
crown with side ribbons and blossoms.
12 in. (30.5 cm) high
$30,000 - 50,000

Emerging from the highly refined classic models
of 10th and 11th century Kashmir, the cult of
Avalokitesvara was paramount in the Western
Tibetan regions of Guge, Tsaparang, and Toling.
In the 11th and 12th century the figures became
more attenuated and details of the dhoti more
simplified as seen in another example in the
Brooklyn Museum of Art (78.256.4).

The absence of the typical elements associated
with Padmapani; a Buddha image in the crown
or headdress and an antelope skin across his
shoulder, are not unusual in sculpture of this
period and the broader region. For an example
in the Asia Society (1979.45), see Reedy,
Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style and
Choices, Newark, 1997, no. W126, and for
another in the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art (M.75.4.1) see Beguin, Dieux et Demons de
l’Himalaya, Paris, 1977, no 41.

Provenance:
Private New York Collection
Acquired in Detroit in the early 1960s

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