Page 12 - 2020 December 2 Bonhams Arts of Devotion bronzes and Stone carvings

1005
A SILVER AND COPPER INLAID BRASS FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARA
SWAT VALLEY OR KASHMIR, CIRCA 9TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16905
17.7 cm (7 in.) high
HKD1,000,000 - 1,500,000

斯瓦特或克什米爾 約九世紀 錯銀錯紅銅觀音銅像

The bronze shows Avalokiteshvara, the Great Bodhisattva of Compassion, alert
above a wicker stool, his eyes enlivened by silver inlay. He leans to one side,
raising his right hand towards his face in a representation known as ‘The Pensive
Bodhisattva’. The remnants of a lotus flower are gripped by his left hand, while
another protects the sole of his left foot from touching the profane world. A devotee
joins him at the base’s right edge, offering his hands in reverence. An effigy of
Avalokiteshvara’s spiritual sire, Amitabha Buddha, appears in the crown.

Situated within the Hindu Kush and western Himalayan mountain ranges, the
monastic centers of Swat Valley and Kashmir were important loci within the
development and spread of Buddhist traditions between India, the Himalayas, and
East Asia. It is among bronzes of the Swat Valley especially that we see some of
the earliest depictions of important Mahayana and Vajrayana deities connecting the
region with the broader Buddhist world. For example, the pensive posture adopted
by this bronze is also seen throughout Buddhist sculpture of China and Korea
between the 5th and 7th centuries.

This bronze’s rather unique perforated base continues an iconographic tradition in
early Mahayana art depicting bodhisattvas seated on wicker stools—as opposed
to lotus thrones, which were reserved for buddhas. There are only a few other
published bronzes that detail the basketry of Avalokiteshvara’s stool like the
present example. All of them are attributed to Swat Valley and to the relatively
earlier period of regional production, between the 6th and 8th centuries (von
Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures of the Alain Bordier Foundation, Hong Kong, 2010,
p.11, pl.2A; Zangchuan fojiao zaoxiang, Hong Kong, 2008, no.7; and Bonhams,
Hong Kong, 7 October 2019, lot 801.) Over subsequent centuries, coinciding with
Kashmir surpassing Swat as the most prominent regional monastic center, the
wicker stool becomes merely suggested as an incised motif before being phased
out completely. (For more information see a Swat Valley pensive Avalokiteshvara
sold at Bonhams, Hong Kong, 7 October 2019, lot 801). Thus, while the present
bronze has been published before as probably being from Kashmir and with a
broad dating of the 9th-11th centuries, it is reasonable to suggest it may be from
Swat Valley as well, and a narrower date of circa 9th century would be more
appropriate. A closely related, contemporaneous bronze of Avalokiteshvara was
sold at Bonhams, New York, 16 March 2015, lot 9.

Published
Pratapaditya Pal, A Collecting Odyssey. Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian
Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, exhibition catalogue, the Art
Institute of Chicago, 1997, pp.134 & 311, no.174.

Provenance
James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago
Sotheby’s, New York, 23 March 2000, lot 18
Private European Collection

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