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A gilt-bronze figure of Ekadashamukha Avalokitesvara 18th century image 1
A gilt-bronze figure of Ekadashamukha Avalokitesvara 18th century image 2
A gilt-bronze figure of Ekadashamukha Avalokitesvara 18th century image 3
A gilt-bronze figure of Ekadashamukha Avalokitesvara 18th century image 4
A gilt-bronze figure of Ekadashamukha Avalokitesvara 18th century image 5
Lot 299

A gilt-bronze figure of Ekadashamukha Avalokitesvara
18th century

Amended
Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
4 December 2008, 12:00 HKT
Hong Kong, Six Pacific Place

HK$200,000 - HK$250,000

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A gilt-bronze figure of Ekadashamukha Avalokitesvara

18th century
The standing figure cast with eight arms and eleven heads, nine of the heads with serene expressions 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 other six fanned out with some holding attributes, the figure adorned with jewellry with a deer skin draped over the left shoulder and clad in shawl and a two-layered dhoti with finely chased borders, all supported on a lotus pedestal.
32cm (12 1/2in) high.

Footnotes

See Chang Foundation #47 and Christies Paris June 08. A similar figure of Avalokiteshvara from a private collection is illustrated by U. Von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pl. 158C, pp. 552-553.

Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva is the most popular deity in Mahayana Buddhism. In the present lot, the bodhisattva is depicted in his eleven-headed form. Ten of the heads represent the ten different stages of enlightment, while the eleventh head is that of Amitabha Buddha, Avalokiteshavara's spiritual genesis.

There are however, numerous legends about the origin of this form of Avalokiteshvara.

According to one version, Avalokiteshvara vowed that he would not enter nirvana until he had first helped all sentient beings enter Amitabha's pure land. He descended into hell, converted the souls, and led them personally to Amitabha's pure land. However, he found that as soon as he had saved one soul, another descended into hell to take its place. He was so overwhelmed with this Sisyphean task that he gave up on his vow. Immediately his head split into a thousand pieces. Amitabha consolidated the thousand pieces into ten heads and stacked them one above the other with his own head on top. He told Avalokiteshvara not to renounce his vow and that there were other ways to save sentient beings. Mahakala, the wrathful manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, was then created to fight the negative forces with compassion and remove the obstacles to enlightenment. The head of Mahakala is the tenth head that sits on top of the three tiers of three heads. The topmost head as mentioned above, is that of Amitabha.



十八世紀 鎏金銅十一面八臂觀音菩薩立像

Saleroom notices

Estimate should read: HK$200,000-250,000

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Birodo Yuzen Meiji era (1868-1912)
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