TIBET, 15TH CENTURY

Details

A Rare Gilt Bronze Figure of Prajnaparamita
Tibet, 15th Century
The four-armed deity seated in dhyanasana on a double lotus base over a low plinth, the latter molded in relief with two addorsed lions centering a vase of amrita, her two lower hands in dhyana mudra and her two upper hands in dharmachakra mudra, wearing a long flowing dhoti decorated in relief with floral bands and with beaded rims and inset with hardstones, armbands, bracelets, earrings, and necklace, and an ornate conical crown encrusted with lapis lazuli and hardstones, terminating in a four-pronged vajra ornament, richly gilt overall
13¾ in. (34.9 cm.) high

Literature

Spink, Visions of Perfect Worlds, 1999, cat. no. 9

Special notice

This lot is offered subject to a reserve, which is the confidential minimum price below which the lot will not be sold.

Lot Essay

Only few other bronzes of this type with richly inlaid bejeweled dhotis are published; compare to a closely related example of a four-armed Avalokiteshvara, in Morning Glory (publ.), Precious Deposits. Historical Relics in China, 2000, vol. 3, cat. no. 24; a gilt bronze figure of Manjushri in the Zimmerman Family Collection, cf. P. Pal, Art of the Himalayas, Treasures from Nepal and Tibet, 1991, cat. no. 65; and a gilt bronze figure of Akshobya in the Berti Aschmann Collection, cf. H. Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment, 1995, cat. no. 32.

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