Page 46 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013
P. 46
51
51 Unlike the Tibetan convention of eight arms, Nepalese examples are often
A gilt copper figure of eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara depicted with ten, as in the present lot. Also the variance can be found
Nepal, 18th/19th century in the arrangement of the heads, in Tibet it is cast with three rows of
Standing on a circular lotus pedestal, abundantly adorned and wearing a three benign bodhisattva heads surmounted by a wrathful head, which
long dhoti and mantle, both incised with floral designs, and an antelope skin is finally surmounted by a head of Amitabha Buddha. Whereas Nepalese
draped underneath and over his left shoulder; with ten radiating arms, his examples the first row of three heads are of a bodhisattva followed by a
primary raised in anjali mudra with boon between the hands, his other left row of three wrathful heads followed by two rows each of two wrathful
hands holding the elixir of immortality, flaming triratna, and lotus bud, his heads and finally a head of Buddha. For a related example see Sotheby’s,
other right hands displaying varada mudra and holding a chakra and a seated London, 2 April, 1990, lot 50 and von Schroeder Indo Tibetan Bronzes’, p.
buddha ablaze with pristine awareness; the majority of his eleven-tiered heads 382, no. 103a for a slightly earlier example.
with fierce faces, but surmounted by the benign expression of Amitabha.
13 1/4 in. (33.8 cm) high
$20,000 - 30,000
44 | Bonhams
