TIBET, 15TH-16TH CENTURY

The style of this Buddha reflects a portrait-type popularized during the fifteenth century, shaped by artistic exchanges between Nepal, Tibet, and China. The lightly clad, foliate-hemmed robe bisecting the chest, with fishtail folds over the left shoulder and the edge tucked over the left forearm recalls Newari conventions in their depictions of the Buddha (U. von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. 1, 2001, p. 523, no. 170C). The Buddha's oversized ushnisha is characteristic of Yuan style, which continued into the early Ming dynasty (for Yuan examples (ibid, Vol. II, 2003, p. 1253, no. 344D & 344E).