Page 14 - Bonhams May 11th 2017 London Fine Chinese Art

VARIOUS OWNERS 各方藏家

107
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF ELEVEN-HEADED
AVALOKITESHVARA
18th century
Cast with eleven heads, the principal head surmounted
by three rows of three smaller heads crowned by
a single head of Buddha Amitabha, wearing a long
flowing dhoti with elaborate jewellery, with four pairs of
arms in various mudra and holding various attributes,
standing on an oval lotus-petal base.
24cm (9 1/2in) high (2).

£5,000 - 8,000
CNY43,000 - 69,000

十八世紀 銅鎏金十一面觀音菩薩立像

Provenance: a British private collection
來源： 英國私人收藏

The eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara is an esoteric
form of the Bodhisattva and became widely
employed in tantric visualisations. According to
the Karandavyuha Sutra and the Flower Garland
Sutra, both compiled between the 5th and the 6th
centuries AD, the eleven towering heads crowning
the head of the deity represented the ten steps
towards enlightenment. The fan of arms holding
different attributes signified the measureless means
to save all sentient souls from hell; see T.E.Neville,
Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara: Chenresigs,
Kuan-Yin or Kannon Bodhisattva; its Origin and
Iconography, New Delhi, 1999.
A similar gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara,
17th/18th century, is illustrated in Buddhist Images
in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, pp.106-107, no.46.
A closely related eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara,
18th century, is in the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art,
Kansas City, acc.no.74.36/58.
Two related gilt-bronze figures of eleven-headed
Avalokiteshvara, 18th century, were sold in these
rooms on 10 November 2016, lot 112 and on 15
May 2014, lot 394 and lot 395.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.