Description
A SCHIST STELE OF BODHISATTVA AVALOKITESHVARA, PALA PERIOD
Northeastern India, 10th- 12th century. Avalokiteshvara is depicted in the ‘Sky-Gliding’ form of Khasarpana Lokeshvara. He conforms precisely to his description in Buddhist textual sources: youthful, peaceful, smiling, with two arms, wearing his hair in a tall coiffure.
Provenance: From the collection of Georg Weifert (1850-1937). Thence by descent in the same family. Weifert was a Serbo-Austrian industrialist and the first governor of the Federal Bank of the Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.
Condition: Some losses and breaks, extensive wear and traces of use. Good patina. Partial calcification.
Weight: 1,224.4 g
Dimensions: Height 17 cm
The Bodhisattva demonstrates his compassion for all living beings by holding his right hand in the gift-bestowal gesture, with a kneeling and praying follower to his lower right.