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Lot Essay
This bronze is a large example of its type, displaying the influence of earlier Kashmiri prototypes, for example in the modeling of the muscles around the navel and the dhoti worn with one short leg secured with a sash hanging down between the flexed legs, see D. Klimburg-Salter, The Silk Route and the Diamond Path, 1982, pp. 104, 163 and pl. 30.
The dhoti is unusual, consisting of circular flowerheads worked in relief, consistent with what is known of gorgeously embroidered multicolored Central Asian textiles, and secured with a beaded belt with looped festoons. For an example of this type of garment on a female deity, also dated 11th/12th century, see U. von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol. 1, 2001, p. 81, fig. II-12. The position of the hand, upturned at the hip, is also very rare, von Schroeder published a sculpture with similar gesture but much lower on the thigh, see ibid., p. 135, fig. 31C.
The dhoti is unusual, consisting of circular flowerheads worked in relief, consistent with what is known of gorgeously embroidered multicolored Central Asian textiles, and secured with a beaded belt with looped festoons. For an example of this type of garment on a female deity, also dated 11th/12th century, see U. von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol. 1, 2001, p. 81, fig. II-12. The position of the hand, upturned at the hip, is also very rare, von Schroeder published a sculpture with similar gesture but much lower on the thigh, see ibid., p. 135, fig. 31C.