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A BRONZE FIGURE OF LOKANATHA AVALOKITESHVARA, PALA PERIOD
奥地利
2024年12月17日 开拍
拍品描述
A BRONZE FIGURE OF LOKANATHA AVALOKITESHVARA, PALA PERIOD

Northeastern India, 11th century. The Savior of the Universe gracefully seated in lalitasana on a double lotus base with the right foot pendant and supported on a lotus pad. The deity’s left hand holding a lotus stem coming to full bloom at the shoulder, a similar second blossom issuing from the base, his right hand lowered in varada mudra. Superbly cast with a slender waist lending a gentle sway to the overall figure. Adorned with jewelry and wearing a sheer dhoti, his hair fashioned in a tall chignon centered by a diminutive image of the Buddha Amitabha, all flanked by foliate motifs.

Provenance: From a private collection in Chicago, United States. An old collector’s label to the underside, ‘617’.
Condition: Good condition with old wear, predominantly from centuries of worship within the culture. Some casting flaws including fine fissures around the waist. Rubbing, small dents, tiny nicks, few minor losses. Some warping to the base. Remnants of ritual pigment. The bronze with a rich, smooth, naturally grown, coppery patina.

Weight: 500 g
Dimensions: Height 13.2 cm

Expert’s note:
Despite extensive wear and rubbing to this bronze, revealing a rich coppery patina from centuries of adulation, the figure can be identified as Lokanatha Avalokiteshvara, known in English as “Savior of the World”. This form was particularly popular during the early Pala period in Northeastern India. He is one of three principal deities of Mahayana Buddhism, along with Shakyamuni, who represents the present, and Maitreya, the future Buddha. Lokanatha displays some distinctly Shaivite features, namely a high chignon and a sensuous, supple body. By the eleventh century, however, one can clearly see the fusion of Brahmanical and Buddhist iconography that appears in this region, particularly the shakta influence of jata in Buddhist images. Here, an effigy of Amitabha sitting at the base of the jata identifies him as unequivocally Buddhist.

The Pala dynasty flourished in eastern India from the eighth to the twelfth century, producing artworks of a distinct style, heavily influenced by the Gupta period aesthetic. The Pala style traveled from India to Nepal, China and Tibet, and served as an important foundation for sculptural and painting traditions in subsequent centuries. A surge in travel in the region among Buddhist practitioners and laypeople to sacred sites associated with Buddha Shakyamuni, expanded the propagation of Buddhist texts and religious icons, particularly bronze sculpture, which were easily transported by pilgrims. As a result, Pala bronze work achieved an exceptional level of sophistication and to this day, is revered as one of the golden eras of the Indian sculptural tradition.

In the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra, Avalokiteshvara is widely evoked as Lokanatha, or ‘Lord of the universe, he who protects the world’. Western scholars have traditionally considered the earliest sutra in the Prajnaparamita class to be the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra or ‘Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines’, which was probably first put in writing in the 1st century BC, with Pala period manuscripts surviving in several museum collections including one in the Cambridge University Library, accession number MS Add.1464.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 21 March 2018, lot 3001
Price: USD 30,000 or approx. EUR 35,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gilt bronze figure of Lokanatha Avalokiteshvara, Northeast India, Pala period, 11th century
Expert remark: Note the strong wear, with features similarly rubbed away from centuries of worship as exhibited by the present lot. Compare also the closely related subject, modeling, and manner of casting, and the size (9 cm). Note the remnants of gilt.

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价格信息

拍品估价:1,500 - 3,000 欧元 起拍价格:1,500 欧元  买家佣金: 35.00%

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