Page 80 - Bonhams Presencer Buddhist Art Collection Oct. 2 2018

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A GILT LACQUERED COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF
SIMHANADA AVALOKITESHVARA
MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61650
51 cm (20 in.) high
HK$200,000 - 300,000

明朝 十六世纪 銅漆金獅吼觀音像

In this form, the Bodhisattva of Perfected Compassion,
Avalokiteshvara, can be invoked to cure illness. His iconography is
derived from the Mahayana Avatamsaka Sutra. He is depicted in the
posture of royal ease and wears an ornate headdress with a seated
image of Amitabha Buddha – a reference to Avalokiteshvara as an
emanation of the Buddha Amitabha. His right arm rests on the knee
while the left hand supports the weight of his body. He rides on a lion
that turns upward and gazes at the Bodhisattva attentively.

This bronze is a classic representation of Simhanada Avalokitesvara,
‘the Lion Voiced Lord’, in the Ming Dynasty. A parrot by his shoulder
is a reference to popular Ming scripture, “The Tale of the Filial and
righteous Parrot”, where a parrot accompanies the Bodhisattva to the
South Sea. Compare the bronze with the Ming Samantabhadra from
the Ningxia Museum, published in Hsing, Encyclopedia of Buddhist
Arts, Kaohsiung, 2013, p.1412. Also compare another similar example
dated to the Chenghua reign (r.1464-1487) illustrated in Spencer,
Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, p.46, no.16.

Provenance
Frank Ormond, 2013

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