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A BRASS ALLOY SHRINE TO AVALOKITESHVARA PADMAPANI This unusual early Tibetan style emphasizes the Bodhisattva’s
TIBET, 12TH CENTURY otherworldliness with naïve attenuation, cast here more elegantly than
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61669 many others of this style. Two stupas flank him, representative of the
16.5 cm (6 1/2 in.) high earthly realm which his sacred presence graces. He is depicted in
the form of Padmapani Lokeshvara, “Lotus Holder”, the lotus being a
HK$80,000 - 120,000 symbol of all beings’ inevitable enlightenment, which Avalokiteshvara
will assist in. Compare with a similar stylistic example of a Vajrapani
shrine in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (54.3014), and another
西藏 十二世紀 蓮華手觀音銅像 sold at Bonhams, New York, 13 March 2017, lot 3063.
Avalokiteshvara is the patron deity of Tibet. Tibetan political and Published
religious leaders have often been identified as his incarnations. The Deborah Ashencaen and Gennady Leonov, Tibetan Art at Spink,
Potala Palace, is named after Avalokiteshvara’s abode on Mount London, 1992, no.3.
Potalaka.
Provenance
Spink & Son, Ltd., London, 1992
Sotheby’s, London, 23 & 24 April 1993, lot 868
THE PRESENCER COLLECTION OF BUDDHIST ART | 67
