AN EXTREMELY RARE LARGE DATED GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESVARA
AN EXTREMELY RARE LARGE DATED GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESVARA

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AN EXTREMELY RARE LARGE DATED GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESVARA
QING DYANASTY, SHUNZHI DATED INSCRIPTION CORRESPONDING TO 1660 AND OF THE PERIOD

Finely cast seated in dhyanasana with one hand held in vitarka mudra holding the stem of a lotus flower, the broad face with eyes downcast in an expression of contemplation, below the diadem accommodating the Amitabha, partially draped by a cowl falling behind the pendulous ears, adorned with jewellery chains across the bare torso, the inner robe finely chased with the character fo, Buddha, above the ribbon, the lining of the outer garment similarly chased with a floral pattern; all supported on a separately cast lotus pedestal raised on a short cylindrical column above a sea of mythical creatures within an octagonal galleried plinth, inscribed with the name of the donor and devotee
42 3/8 in. (107.5 cm.) high

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.

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