- Title
- The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
- Date Made
- circa 900
- Medium
- Patinated copper alloy
- Dimensions
- 6 3/4 x 4 7/8 x 3 1/2 in. (17.15 x 12.38 x 8.89 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.81.8.3
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is enthroned on a lotus base on a pedestal. He sits in the relaxed posture (lalita asana) with his right leg pendant and supported by the pericarp of a lotus flower (karnika). He is crowned with a tiara and has the piled hair of an ascetic. His separately cast throneback is now missing. He wears a patterned dhoti and the standard jewelry. His right hand is extended in the gesture of charity (varada mudra). He holds a lotus in his left hand.
The sculpture was likely donated to the Apanaka Monastery in pilgrimage center of Kurkihar, Bihar. An inscription on the rear of the base reads, This is the pious gift of the monk Viryavarman, who is from Kanchi [Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu]. (Translation by Pratapaditya Pal.)
- Selected Bibliography
- Little, Stephen, Tushara Bindu Gude, Karina Romero Blanco, Silvia Seligson, Marco Antonio Karam. Las Huellas de Buda. Ciudad de México : Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2018.
- Little, Stephen, and Tushara Bindu Gude. Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art across Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2025.
