Maitreya gilt copper with silver and semi-precious stones Tibet

The finely cast and detailed figure of Maitreya with right hand in abhaya mudra, the gesture of reassurance, and the left in vitarka, the gesture of argumentation, wearing lavish gem-set bodhisattva jewelry, a long ratnopavita looping around the body and under the feet to the lotus pedestal beneath, the deity seated in vajraparyankasana on a double lotus pedestal and identified by a silver stupa in the hair.

The abhaya mudra of the right hand is often associated with the Tathagata Amoghasiddhi, but this rare figure is firmly identified as Maitreya by the silver stupa in the jatamakuta, one of the two principal emblems of the bodhisattva. The sculpture is Tibetan but the style is derived from the Malla period Nepalese stylistic tradition of jewel incrusted and heavily gilded bronzes. Shalu monastery in Southern Tibet was renowned for its splendid decoration done by itinerant Newar artists, and this Maitreya may be compared with a number of fourteenth and fifteenth century Shalu temple sculptures, see Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, pp. 959-65, pls. 229C-32C, comparing particularly the sweeping earring style and the similar armbands and crown type of the circa fourteenth century Manjughosha, pl. 229C.