Page 32 - 2020 December 2 Bonhams Arts of Devotion bronzes and Stone carvings

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A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF MAITREYA This lively sculpture of Maitreya has an engaging gaze and a gentle
TIBET, 13TH CENTURY smile. He sits poised above a rounded lotus with his hands in the
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61756 gesture of ‘Furthering the Dharma’. An elegant knot dangles from his
10 cm (4 in.) high right knee. One of his identifying attributes, the kundika, rises from
a lotus to his left shoulder, while the artist casts another lotus to his
HKD400,000 - 600,000 right to balance the composition. With Maitreya’s high chignon, crown
ribbons, light clothing - in fact in most manners - this fine, early Tibetan
sculpture draws on the Pala style of Northeastern India, but is arguably
西藏 十三世紀 銅鎏金彌勒菩薩像 more spirited. Compare with a Pala Maitreya in the British Museum
(von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p.283,
no.69D).

Provenance
Private Collection, Milan, acquired in 2004

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