A polychromed wooden figure of Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara

TIBET, CIRCA 13TH CENTURY

Details

A polychromed wooden figure of Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara
Tibet, circa 13th century
Standing with the principle hands in anjalimudra and the others outstretched around him, clad in a multicolored dhoti and adorned with a beaded necklace and large lotiform earrings, the eleven faces arranged in tiers
38½ in. (97.7 cm.) high

Provenance

Private collection, Europe, acquired in Paris, 2 May 1990

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Lot Essay

The striped pattern on the dhoti and the color palette of the polychromy reveal connections with the great early Indo-Tibetan Buddhist wall murals of the western Himalayan cave temples at Tabo (10th-11th centuries) and Alchi (11th-13th centuries). These masterpieces of Buddhist art included not only paintings but also colossal stucco figures of deities enhanced by richly colored polychromy. For further discussion, see D. Klimburg-Salter, Tabo, 1997, and P. Pal, A Buddhist Paradise: The Murals of Alchi, Western Himalayas, 1982.

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