Page 32 - Bonhams, Images of Devotion, April 21 2021

15
A BRASS FIGURE OF FOUR-ARMED AVALOKITESHVARA
NORTHEASTERN INDIA, BIHAR, PALA PERIOD, 9TH CENTURY
With the Buddhist creed (“ye dharma hetu...”) inscribed at the back.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.68406
9 cm (3 1/2 in.) high

HKD800,000 - 1,200,000

印度東北部 比哈爾邦 帕拉時期 九世紀 四臂觀音銅像

The present bronze would be among the earliest known multi-armed Published
Buddhist images, testifying to the emergence of Vajrayana Buddhism David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of
in Northeastern India before it spread to Nepal, Tibet, and further Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999,
afield. This intimate sculpture represents a rare and early four-armed pp.19&21, fig.9.
form of Avalokiteshvara, who is identified by the diminutive Amitabha Karen Lucic, Embodying Compassion in Buddhist Art: Image,
in his headdress. The bodhisattva extends his primary right hand in Pilgrimage, Practice, Poughkeepsie, 2015, p.67, no.23.
the gesture of generosity, while holding the long stem of a lotus in
his primary left hand. His two upper arms are raised, with one hand Exhibited
holding a mala (prayer beads) and the other a ritual staff. Embodying Compassion in Buddhist Art: Image, Pilgrimage, Practice,
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY, April 23 to
The heavily rubbed surface and lustrous patina suggests this small June 28, 2015.
sculpture was once a cherished personal icon. Karen Lucic proposes
this bronze was frequently bathed, “with unguents like butter and Provenance
fragrant liquids,” referring to textual records of such practices at Ex-Nyingjei Lam Collection 菩薩道舊藏
Nalanda, an eminent site for the production of Buddhist icons during On loan to the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2005—2019
the Pala period (Lucic, Embodying Compassion in Buddhist Art, (L.2005.9.4)
Poughkeepsie, 2015, p.67).

See a closely related figure of Avalokiteshvara with a similar overall
composition, body type, and lotus petals published in von Schroeder
Buddhist Sculpture in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, pp.230-1, no.68C. A
two-armed Avalokiteshvara dated to the 8th century shares the same
elongated oval mandorla (von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong
Kong, 1981, pp.222-3, no.48H). Also compare the treatment of the
parasol at the mandorla’s tip to similar examples in ibid., pp.230-1,
nos.52D&E.

30 | BONHAMS