Page 14 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art March 2016 New York

6
A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF
AVALOKITESHVARA
Western Tibet, 11th century
Framed by curling sashes, he stands in a hieratic
pose, wearing an antelope skin tied across his chest
and short dhoti cascading between his legs, his
crown bearing seated Amitabha.
9 1/2 in. (24.2 cm) high
$50,000 - 70,000

西藏西部 十一世紀 觀音菩薩銅像

The cult of Avalokitesvara was paramount in the
Western Tibetan regions of Guge, Tsaparang,
and Toling. Emerging from highly-refined classic
models of 10th-/11th-century Kashmir, the
sculpture of 11th/12th Western Tibet evolved
into more attenuated figures with simpler designs
on their garments. This is witnessed on another
example held in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (acc.
#78.256.4). Also compare related examples in:
the Norton Simon Museum of Art (Pal, Art from
the Indian Subcontinent, 2003, Vol. 2, no. 89);
Zangchuan fojiao zaoxiang-Gugong bowuyuan cang
wenwu zhenpin quanji, Hong Kong, 2008, no. 98;
Christie’s, New York, 31 March 2005, lot 17; and 16
September 2009, lot 764.

Referenced
HAR - himalayanart.org/items/61422

Provenance
Private German Collection, 1968-1972
Nagel Auktionen, Stuttgart, 2001
Estate of Ralph Benkaim
Bonhams, New York, 19 March 2012, lot 1092

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