418 - LARGE AND RARE STANDING MANJUSRI NEPAL 18TH CENTURY

LARGE AND RARE STANDING MANJUSRI NEPAL 18TH CENTURY Dimensions: Height 35 cm Wide 20 cm Depth 7 cm Weight: 3067 grams A large standing image of Manjushri carved or cast in deep relief within a pointed architectural slab. The youthful bodhisattva stands frontally beneath an arched halo, wearing a high crown, large circular earrings and layered jewellery. The principal hands are joined before the chest, while additional arms or attributes rise on either side, including a long blade-like form and a lotus-supported object. Flowing scarves and broad ornamental scrolls fill the surrounding field, while an inscription runs across the lower register. Manjushri embodies transcendent wisdom in Mahayana Buddhism and is most famously associated with the sword that cuts through ignorance and the book of perfected wisdom. In Himalayan art he may appear either seated or standing, but the present format gives the figure an unusually architectural presence: deity, halo, attributes and frame are conceived as a single vertical composition rather than as a freestanding figure. The grey-brown surface is softened by age and deposits, yet the large scale preserves a wealth of detail in the crown, jewellery, hands and ornamental border. The inscribed base is especially important visually, grounding the elevated sacred image in a band of human script. At thirty-five centimetres high, the work has the impact of a shrine image while retaining the intimate complexity associated with Nepalese and Himalayan devotional art.