WESTERN TIBET, 14TH CENTURY

Details

A rare copper inlaid brass figure of Manjushri
Western Tibet, 14th century
Expressively modeled seated in vajrasana on a separately cast double lotus base, his right hand raised brandishing the sword behind his head, his left hand in vitarkamudra holding a lotus stem flowering at his left shoulder, wearing a long smoothly fitted dhoti with incised hems inlaid with copper, multiple necklaces and armlets, his face with incised arched eyebrows and surmounted by an elaborate foliate crown topped with a flame finial, inscribed on the reverse of the head and back with the mantras aum ah hrih
14 in. (35.5 cm.) high

Provenance

Dr. Foulkes, acquired on the Younghusband Expedition to Tibet, 1903-04
By bequest, English Private Collector, 1965
Christie's New York, 3 October 1990, lot 160

Lot Essay

The present lot was acquired by Dr. Foulkes, a member of the medical corps on the Younghusband Expedition to Tibet in 1903-4. For an account of the Younghusband expedition, see P. Landon, Lhasa, An account of the country and people of Central Tibet and of the progress of the mission sent there by English Government in the year 1903-4, 1905.

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