NEPAL, 10TH CENTURY

Details

A rare Gilt copper figure of Padmapani
Nepal, 10th Century
Solidly cast standing on a double lotus base with his right hand raised in abhaya mudra, his left hand lowered holding a lotus bud, wearing a diaphanous dhoti secured with a sash tied diagonally across the hips, his face with a benign expression with hair spilling down to the shoulders and surmounted by a tripartite crown
10¾ in. (34.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Acquired in the mid-1980s

Lot Essay

This figure is remarkably close to a figure of a Bodhisattva at the Norton Simon Museum, see P. Pal, Art from the Himalayas and China, 2003, cat. no. 41, p. 41f. The treatment of the drapery closely corresponds in mirror image and they both hold unusual representations of flowers. The treatment of the conical plaques of the headdress is similarly related with elaborately delineated scrollwork. These unusual features likely reflect a rare blend of influences from the Himalays and China.

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