A Important Bronze Figure of Avalokiteshvara

KHMER, KOH KER STYLE, 10TH CENTURY

Details

A Important Bronze Figure of Avalokiteshvara
Khmer, Koh Ker Style, 10th Century
Standing on a square base with his four arms radiating in varada mudra, wearing a sampot with a fishtail pleat, his face with a benign expression surmounted by a cylindrical chignon encircled by ten miniature heads, the eyes inlaid with silver, with an attractive mottled green patina overall
17¼ in. (44 cm.) high

Literature

Spink, A Divine Art, 1997, cat. no. 5.

Lot Essay

Examples of eleven-headed depictions of Avalokiteshvara in bronze are rare. A seated example is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession no. 1987.146), and an eleven headed twenty two armed example is at the National Museum, Bangkok, see P. Kriairiksh, Art in Peninsular Thailand Prior to the Fourteenth Century A.D., 1980, pl. 62.
The results of a metallurgical test by Conservation and Technical Services Ltd, University of London, laboratory no. 90808, are consistent with the origin and dating of this piece.

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