A MAGNIFICENT AND RARE LARGE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF ELEVEN-HEADED AVALOKITESHVARA QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD

the standing deity with eight arms and eleven heads, arranged in three tiers, surmounted by one head with a wrathful countenance topped by a small head of Amitabha, the principal hands held in anjalimudra, the figure adorned with inlaid jewellery with a deer skin draped over the left shoulder, clad in a shawl and a two-layered dhoti with finely chased borders, all raised on an elaborate lotus flower base with individual petals arranged in five rows

This magnificent and unusually large gilt-bronze would originally have been created for an Imperial temple in Beijing. Richly gilded and inset with semi-precious stones, and cast with precise delineation of the body, the eleven heads, and intricate detailing of floral designs at the hems of the robes, it is a fine example of an early Qing Imperial bronze.

The eleven-headed form of the popular bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara has been revered in China from the late Ming dynasty through the Qing. The distinctive lotus base, consisting of bands of raised lotus flowers skilfully cast in repoussé, can be seen on three other Imperial Kangxi gilt-bronze figures of Amitayus, Vajradhara and Green Tara, all from the Qing court collection and preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Buddhist Statues of Tibet, Hong Kong, 2008, pp. 239-241, pls. 228-230.