Page 34 - 2020 Sept 22 Himalayin and Indian Works of Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art | Sotheby's

Indian, Hi ma layan & Southeast Asian Works of Art
New York |22 Sep 2020 | 12:00 PM EDT

Lot 322

A GILT COPPE R FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARA , NEPAL, 9TH/10TH CENTURY
Estimate: 300,000 - 500,000 USD

PROPERTY OF AN IMPORTANT AMERICAN COLLECTION
A GILT COPPER FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARA
NEPAL, 9TH/10TH CENTURY

Height 10 ½ in. (26.7 cm)

the bodhisattva of compassion seated on a wide lotus petal throne, the top incised with the motif of lotus pods, luxuriously
positioned in sattvaparyankasana, wearing a shawl drawn across the body and falling in pleats over the left shoulder, the dhoti held
in place by an ornamented waist band wrapping around the legs in a chased striated pattern, with gem set armbands set high on
the shoulders, a necklace with attached pendants, and lotus-form earrings resting on the shoulders, the left hand supporting his
weight from behind and holding the stalk of a lotus that follows the curve of the arm with a lotus blossoming over the left shoulder,
the head encircled in an aureole decorated in swirling flames

Himalayan Art Resources item no. 13744.

Provenance
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, acquired from Dudley James, New York, 1922

Catalogue Note
From the seat of a lotus throne, Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, outstretches his hand in the gesture that signifies
benevolence and charity. A principal deity that arose in tandem with the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, Avalokiteshvara
expresses the foundational tenets of the religion by postponing his own enlightenment in order to continually guide others into

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