A RARE INSCRIBED GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA

Details

A RARE INSCRIBED GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA
17TH CENTURY OR EARLIER

The bodhisattva standing with body gracefully swayed to the left and with right hand raised in varadamudra holding the end of the lotus stem which wraps around the arms and rises to the blossom at the shoulder, the left hand in dhyasana, wearing beaded necklaces and jewelry inlaid with hardstones, the dhoti tied around the hips with a sash, and the shawl worn around the shoulders incised with foliate borders, with a long celestial scarf draped across the front of the body and over the forearms trailing down the sides to the feet, the full face well cast with crisp features framed above by the bejeweled leaf crown which surrounds the tall, bound topknot, incised on top of the lotus base between the feet with a Tibetan inscription, kun-tu bzan-po la na na, 'A great praise to Samanthabadra', and the four Chinese characters identifying the figure as the bodhisattva Puxian, and on the reverse with an inscription in Tibetan (Shar bshi wa) and Chinese (dong di si), reading, 'East number four', referring to the placement of the bronze in a larger grouping
45in. (63.6cm.) high

Further details

See illustration on opposite page and front cover

Lot Essay

Compare a seated Dipankara Buddha with chased floral patterns on the borders of the robe identified by an inscription in Chinese and Tibetan and dated the first year of Kangxi (1622) illustrated by Ulrich von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, fig. 152. Compare, also, the lovely standing female dancer, without pedestal, in the Newark Museum, believed to be of 17th/18th century date, illustrated by Valrae Reynolds, Tibet: A Lost World, New York, 1978, p. 104, no. 185. This figure is dated to the Ming dynasty by von Schroeder, op. cit., fig. 148