This form of mystical interpretation of Avalokitesvara with multiple heads and arms is found on mural paintings at Dunhuang dating to the late 8th/early 9th century. The sculptural form appeared as early as 10th century, and can be seen on a carving of a standing multi-armed Bodhisattva dated to the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), in the Dinglongxing Temple, Hebei province, illustrated in Guangyin Baoxiang, Precious Images of Guanyin, Shanghai, 1998, p. 99; and by votive paintings from the same period, ibid., p. 124. One of the earliest published gilt-bronze Tantric Avalokitesvara appears to be an example seated in bhadrasana, both legs pendent, in the Nitta Collection, illustrated in The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom, National Palace Museum, Taibei, 1985, p. 189, pl. 93, dated to the Five Dynasties (907-960).

A closely comparable Ming dynasty example of a gilt-bronze Tantric Avalokitesvara with three faces and forty-two arms, in the Nitta Collection, is illustrated in op. cit., 1987, p. 208, pl. 112. The multiple arms of the Nitta Avalokitesvara are cast holding ritual objects that are similar to those in the hands of the present example. Compare also a related Avalokitesvara modelled with seven heads and twenty-four arms and dated to 16th/17th century in the Chang Foundation, see Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taibei, 1993, p. 86, no. 36; as well as a smaller example, 32 cm. high, sold in these Rooms, 27 April 1997, lot 537.