A RARE LICCHAVI-REVIVAL-STYLE GILT-BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF MAITREYA

The present figure represents a revival of earlier Nepalese traditions, particularly that of the Licchavi period (approximately AD 400-750). Other examples from this group include a gilt-bronze figure of Maitreya Buddha, illustrated by D. Weldon and J. Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 121, pl. 27, and a gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number: 2015.500.4.22, currently on view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 253. Such works are characterised by the sensitive treatment of the fingers and facial features. The Licchavi prototypes for these works, such as the large gilt-bronze figure of a seated Maitreya from the collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth and sold at Christie’s New York, 17 March 2015, lot 27, were prized throughout Tibet and Mongolia, and must have inspired the artisans of the 17th and 18th century in the creation of these new images.