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A SWAT VALLEY BRONZE FIGURE OF VAIROCANA, 8TH – 10TH CENTURY A SWAT VALLEY BRONZE FIGURE OF VAIROCANA, 8TH – 10TH CENTURY Swat Valley. Seated in dhyanasana on a double lotus base, the hands close to his chest in bodhyagrimudra, and dressed in monastic robes falling in folds down the slender body. His face displays a serene expression with downcast eyes below arched eyebrows, flanked by long pendulous earlobes, and the hair in tight curls over a domed ushinisha. Provenance: German trade. Condition: Good condition, commensurate to age. Wear, rubbing, signs of weathering and erosion, minuscule losses, nicks, and light scratches. Weight: 149.3 g Dimensions: Height 9.5 cm

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A SWAT VALLEY BRONZE FIGURE OF VAIROCANA, 8TH – 10TH CENTURY A SWAT VALLEY BRONZE FIGURE OF VAIROCANA, 8TH – 10TH CENTURY Swat Valley. Seated in dhyanasana on a double lotus base, the hands close to his chest in bodhyagrimudra, and dressed in monastic robes falling in folds down the slender body. His face displays a serene expression with downcast eyes below arched eyebrows, flanked by long pendulous earlobes, and the hair in tight curls over a domed ushinisha. Provenance: German trade. Condition: Good condition, commensurate to age. Wear, rubbing, signs of weathering and erosion, minuscule losses, nicks, and light scratches. Weight: 149.3 g Dimensions: Height 9.5 cm

Estimate 250 - 500 EUR
Starting price 250 EUR

* Not including buyer’s premium.
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For sale on Wednesday 04 Sep : 11:00 (CEST)
vienna, Austria
Galerie Zacke
+4315320452
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A BRONZE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARA, SWAT VALLEY A BRONZE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARA, SWAT VALLEY Presumably 14th century. Finely cast depicting Avalokiteshvara, the Great Bodhisattva of Compassion, sitting atop a wicker stool in royal ease. He leans to one side, raising his right hand towards his face in a representation known as ‘The Pensive Bodhisattva’, his left hand clasped around the stalk of a long-stemmed flower. Provenance: German trade. Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and casting irregularities. Tiny losses, few nicks, and surface scratches. The bronze with azurite encrustations. Weight: 55.3 g Dimensions: Height 6.7 cm This bronze's rather unique perforated base continues an iconographic tradition in early Mahayana art depicting bodhisattvas seated on wicker stools—as opposed to lotus thrones, which were reserved for Buddhas. There are only a few published bronzes that detail the basketry of Avalokiteshvara's stool like the present example. All of them are attributed to Swat Valley and to the relatively earlier period of regional production, between the 6th and 8th centuries (von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures of the Alain Bordier Foundation, Hong Kong, 2010, p. 11, pl. 2A; Zangchuan fojiao zaoxiang, Hong Kong, 2008, no. 7). Over subsequent centuries, coinciding with Kashmir surpassing Swat as the most prominent regional monastic center, the wicker stool becomes merely suggested as an incised motif before being phased out completely. Situated within the Hindu Kush and western Himalayan mountain ranges, the monastic centers of Swat Valley and Kashmir were important loci within the development and spread of Buddhist traditions between India, the Himalayas, and East Asia. It is among bronzes of the Swat Valley especially that we see some of the earliest depictions of important Mahayana and Vajrayana deities connecting the region with the broader Buddhist world. For example, the pensive posture adopted by this bronze is also seen throughout Buddhist sculpture of China and Korea between the 5th and 7th centuries.