553. A RARE GILDED BRONZE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARA IN A MULTIARMED TANTRIC FORM.

The Bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara (Chin. Guanyin), is here rendered in a tantric multiarmed form, sitting dressed in a robe (dhoti) draped over his knees and legs, his small almond-shaped eyes looking directly forward, wearing necklaces, several bracelets and a high elaborate tiara embellished with flowers and jewel ornaments.

He holds a range of attributes in his twenty-two hands, including the sun and the moon, lotus buds and two lotus flowers (padma), a rosary (mala), a miraculous lasso (pasha) a vajra and a bell (ghanta) , a wheel (cakra), a holy water pot in the Indian kundika shape, a willow-branch, a large ring, a shield (khetaka), a sword (khadga), and his main hands in prayer and adoration (namaskara mudra) .

Lost-wax cast. The original gilding is partly concealed by a later layer of red gold lacquer.

China, Yunnan Province, Dali Kingdom (937–1253). Altura senza stanica c. 30 cm. Gewicht c. 3390g.

The present rare and highly important gilded bronze sculpture, recently discovered and identified in a Swedish private collection, belongs to a small group of esoteric multiarmed representations of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, known from only a few parallels in public collections. One in Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore, displays related features, and is dated to circa 10th century (Accession No. 2011-01482). However, the remarkable rendering of the robe, which seems to hang down freely – stylistically comparable to sculptures from the late Tang – makes the bronze offered for sale here stand out.

Originally there must have been an elevated throne, now lost, which is true for most Dali sculptures. Also lost are additional arms or a mandorla, to be understood from the protuberant arrangement at the back of the sculpture – which is also a feature of a similar representation of Avalokiteshvara (a sculpture which shares many other striking similarities) dated to 11th –12th century , in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Accession No. 56.223).

This type of a multiarmed powerful tantric form of Avalokiteshvara is said to have been introduced into East Asia as early as the 8th century by the Indian monk Amoghavajra as part of an effort to repel Tibetan military aggression and expansion. When the Duan family later came to power in Yunnan in 937, they named their kingdom Dali, "Great Ruling Principle", a name they claimed had been selected by Avalokiteshvara himself.

Situated on the southwestern Silk Road the Dali Kingdom became a crossroads for religious and cultural influences from China, Tibet, Bagan (Burma) and Pāla India, as is reflected in Azhali, an esoteric tantric form of Buddhism, the predominant religion in the kingdom. No less than ten of Dali's twenty-two kings retired to become Buddhist monks, indicating the importance Vajrayana Buddhism had as a state religion. In the Azhali tradition Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and his protective form, Mahakala, were the key deities.

Stockholms Auktionsverk would like to express our sincere gratitude to the author of this text, Karl Gunnar Gardell.

LITERATURE: Denise Patry Leidy & Donna K. Strahan, Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010, page 139-140.
Himalayan Art Recourses (https://www.himalayanart.org)

PROVENANCE:
From a private Swedish collector, the managing director Toivo Ekman (1905-1976), thence by descent.