Page 128 - Sotheby's Arts of Asia Paris, June 16, 2022

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A PARCEL-GILT COPPER-ALLOY FIGURE OF 西藏 約十四世紀 局部鎏金銅合金四臂觀世音菩
SADAKSARI AVALOKITESVARA 薩坐像
TIBET, CA. 14TH CENTURY
with traces of cold gold on the face and neck
H. 56.5 cm, 22¼ in.
Sculpture de Sadaksari Avalokitesvara en alliage de
cuivre partiellement doré, Tibet, vers XIVe siècle
40 000-60 000€

Often thought to have a western Tibetan origin, this type of Indian antecedents. Central Tibetan sculpture after the
early Tibetan sculpture is more likely to be from the central fourteenth century is increasingly gilded in the Nepalese
regions where the primary stylistic influence was the art of manner. Compare a similar fourteenth century Vairochana in
eastern India during the Pala period (8th-12th c). Features the Berti Aschmann Collection at Museum Rietberg, with tall
in the Pala idiom include the tall crown panels, the necklace crown leaves, the same type of necklace with large central
of pendant gems with an elaborate central jewel setting, and element and gem-set pendants, and arm bands with beaded
the fishtail scarf-ends of the crown- and belt-ties: compare swags, all so typical of this early central Tibetan sculptural
the tall crown panels and necklace type of a ca. 12th century group, see Helmut Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment,
eastern Indian standing Buddha from Kurkihar see Susan Zürich, 1995, p. 65, cat. 25. The four-armed bodhisattva
L. Huntington, The Pala-Sena Schools of Sculpture, Leiden, holds a rosary and flower stem in his upper hands, with his
1984, pl. 185. The Pala influenced style seems to have principal hands held together before the chest in the gesture
been popular in Tibet from around the twelfth through the of salutation, anjali mudra. Sadaksari Avalokiteshvara is often
fourteenth century, about the same time period that strong regarded as the patron of Tibet and the progenitor of the
eastern Indian influence is seen in central Tibetan painting. Dalai Lama lineage.
The bronzes in this style are mostly un-gilded, like their

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