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Lot Essay
The inscription reads: Xinshi Baier Heitu Shiren Heishi Chengzao Shunzhi shiqi nian eryue shijiu re danli, which may be translated as 'Respectively made by Madam Hei on the auspicious 19th day of the 2nd month in the 17th year of Shunzi for the devotee Baier Heitu'.
No other inscribed example appears to have been published. Stylistically the present figure relates closely to a group of Buddhist gilt-bronzes dated to the mid to late Ming period, also with separately cast lotus bases raised on galleried plinths, such as the figure of Avalokitesvara in the Chang Foundation, illustrated in Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, p. 88, no. 37. The inscription indicates that this sculpture was probably one of the last examples of privately commissioned Ming-style Buddhist images before the advent of Tibetan Buddhism which gained popularity later in the Kangxi period.
No other inscribed example appears to have been published. Stylistically the present figure relates closely to a group of Buddhist gilt-bronzes dated to the mid to late Ming period, also with separately cast lotus bases raised on galleried plinths, such as the figure of Avalokitesvara in the Chang Foundation, illustrated in Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, p. 88, no. 37. The inscription indicates that this sculpture was probably one of the last examples of privately commissioned Ming-style Buddhist images before the advent of Tibetan Buddhism which gained popularity later in the Kangxi period.