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Expert’s Note
The sealing of the chamber for sacred objects at the back is lost, allowing a view into the interior, where several papers are visible. These have deliberately neither been removed nor lifted to avoid any risk of damage. It is therefore quite possible that further objects remain concealed within the chamber.
Finely cast, the eleven-headed, eight-armed bodhisattva depicted standing in samabhanga with his principal hands clasped before the chest in anjali mudra, while the remaining six arms radiate around the torso. Two hands hold a water vessel (kundika) and a Dharma wheel (dharmachakra); another is extended in varada mudra, the open palm displaying the eye of wisdom; and, the remaining three are raised in karana mudra.
The figure is clad in a close-fitting dhoti and a billowing shawl draped over the shoulders, while richly embellished with beaded jewelry suspended from the neck and waist. The deity has eleven heads arranged in three tiers of three, each with a serene expression, cobalt-blue hair, and a lotus-petal tiara. Above them is the wrathful head of a deity with reddish hair, crowned by a diadem of skulls, which is surmounted by a small head of Buddha Amitabha, likewise bearing a meditative countenance.
Provenance: Collection of Josef Neumann, Sydney, Australia. James R. Lawson, Sydney, 28 April 1999, lot 317. A private collection in Davie County, North Carolina, United States, acquired from the above, and thence by descent within the family. Josef Neumann (also known as Newman) was born in Switzerland and arrived in Australia via Israel in the late 1940s. During the 1960s and 1970s, he operated an antique shop in Castlereagh Street, Sydney, where he presented a number of pioneering exhibitions devoted to Netsuke, Oceanic art and Tibetan bronzes, while earning particular recognition in Australia for his expertise in Chinese snuff bottles. For more than four decades, Neumann quietly assembled private collections of exceptional quality in a select number of fields from his modest apartment in Bellevue Hill, Sydney, continually refining his holdings by replacing lesser examples with works of greater rarity and distinction. Following his death, Terry Ingram, art market journalist and critic for the Australian Financial Review, credited him with pioneering the appreciation of some of the more highly specialized fields of serious antique collecting in Australia.
Condition: Very good condition, with expected wear, casting irregularities, traces of handling and appreciation, a solder repair to the right side of the opening on the reverse, with a possible further repair to the front of the upper right thigh, minor losses to the fingers, few old fills, and light rubbing to the gilding and pigments. The figure is extensively and finely painted with old pigments. Possibly some minuscule touchups. Displaying remarkably well.
Weight: 2.1 kg (excl. stand), 3.1 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 40.3 cm (excl. stand), 48.2 cm (incl. stand)
With a modern base. (2)
One Buddhist story tells of Avalokiteshvara vowing never to rest until he had freed all sentient beings from samsara. Despite strenuous effort, he realizes that many unhappy beings were yet to be saved. After struggling to comprehend the needs of so many, his head splits into eleven pieces. Amitabha, seeing his plight, gives him eleven heads with which to hear the cries of the suffering. Upon hearing these cries and comprehending them, Avalokiteshvara tries to reach out to all those who needed aid but found that his two arms were shattered into pieces. Once more, Amitabha comes to his aid and invests him with a thousand arms with which to aid the suffering multitudes.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related Chinese gilt-bronze figure of eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, dated 17th-18th century, in the Tokyo National Museum, collection reference number TC.271. Compare a related gilt-bronze figure of an eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, 18th century, illustrated by Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 2008, p. 552-553, pl.′158C. Compare a related gilt-bronze figure of an eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, dated 17th/18th century, illustrated in Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, p. 106, no. 46. Compare a related earlier gilt brass figure of eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, Central Tibet, dated 16th century, 76.8 cm high, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), accession number M.86.220.2.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Koller Basel, 7 May 2013, lot 133
Price: CHF 33,600 or approx. EUR 38,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gilt-bronze figure of eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, 18th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of casting, gilding, decoration, subject, and size (41 cm).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams London, 9 November 2017, lot 210
Mid-Estimate: GBP 25,000 or approx. EUR 40,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gilt-bronze figure of eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, 18th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of casting, gilding, and subject. Note the smaller size (29 cm).
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