TIBET XVIIIe - XIXe SIÈCLE

= Important gilded bronze statue of Avalokiteshvara with a thousand arms and eleven faces (Sahasrabhuja Lokeshvara) depicted standing on a high lotiform base of gilded, embossed copper alloy, the base sealed with an engraved double vajra representation. The bodhisattva dressed in a fine dhoti, adorned with numerous jewels encrusted with hard stones, the main arms in anjali mudra holding a jewel at the level of the torso, the other six arms arranged in a fan around the torso and holding his attributes (rosary, lotus, ewer,...). The first nine heads of the deity are arranged one above the other in groups of three, while the second to last one represents the face of an irritated deity and the last one represents the face of Amitabha Buddha. The faces are cold gilded and enhanced with polychrome. The ensemble rests on an imposing mandorla made of gilded copper alloy embossed with foliage, from which emanate the nine hundred and ninety-two other arms of the bodhisattva. H. 50,5 cm PROVENANCE A.D. Collection, Prix de Rome. A similar piece sold by Bonhams, "Fine Chinese Art" sale, November 9, 2017, London New Bond Street, lot 213. NOTE The origin of the thousand-armed, eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara lies in a popular episode in the life of the bodhisattva. When he set out to work for the good of living beings, he vowed before Amitabha Buddha that his head would burst into ten pieces and his body into a thousand fragments if he failed. Faced with the immensity of his task, he became discouraged and his body and head broke. Amitabha came to his rescue and recomposed his head by giving him ten faces so that he could look with compassion in all directions simultaneously and crowned the whole with a replica of his own head to signify that he would always be with him. Then he took the pieces of the body and made a new body from which radiated a thousand arms marked with a thousand eyes of compassion. This iconography evokes the immensity of the activity of Avalokiteshvara "The Great Compassionate One", the "Lord who watches from above", a being of pure omniscient and omnipotent Goodness. Representations of Avalokiteshvara with a thousand arms and eleven faces such as the one presented here are quite rare, as they require unparalleled skill and extensive carving. CONDITION REPORT Mandorla : Wear, scratches, small repairs, small lacks Figure : small lacks to the gilt-lacquer of the face, some inlays are missing, wear, scratches Base : traces of oxidations, wear, scratches, small repairs, small accidents, small shocks