This repoussé gilt copper alloy plaque was likely originally a metal sheath for a stone or wooden image (kosha or kavaca) of Vishnu, the Hindu god of preservation. It depicts the deity as nimbate and wearing a tall square crown (kirita mukuta) adorned with a "Face of Glory" (kirttimukha) and the Brahmanical sacred thread (yajnopavita) over his left shoulder. He stands in a stiff, frontal pose (samapada sthanaka). Vishnu has four arms bearing his standard attributes. In his upper right hand, he carries a mace (gada). In his upper left hand, he holds a flaming discus (chakra). In lower left hand, he grasps a conch (shankha). His lower right hand is extended in the gesture of charity (varada mudra) and holds the fruit of knowledge (jñana palam). An open lotus is beneath his lower right hand, while a closed lotus is under his lower left hand. Vishnu is atypically ithyphallic (urdhva linga), which Pratapaditya Pal suggests is because he is a yogi in control of his passions (Pal 1985, p. 95, no. S13). Vishnu is surrounded by a complex flaming aureole (prabhavali).
A devanagari inscription on the aureola’s inner border states, In the year of 300 [1180 CE] on Monday, the twelfth day of the bright fortnight of the month of Magha [January-February], Bhuvana Jiva of the most excellent Vaidya family, for this glory… The inscription continues under the base but is illegible. The inscribed date was formerly read as (Nepal samvat) 103, corresponding to 983 CE (Pal 1985, p. 235, no. S13), but was retranslated by Gautama Vajrachharya (see Ian Alsop, "Problems in Dating Nepalese Metal Sculpture: Three Images of Visnu (corrected)," https://www.asianart.com/articles/visnu/index.html).
See also M.84.124.1 and M.85.125.
