Nepalese Gilt Bronze Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara, Newar, c. 1930–1970, 23.5 cm

Eleven heads and a halo of arms

Cast hollow in a Newar workshop in the Kathmandu Valley, this standing Avalokiteshvara – Chenrezig to Tibetans – rises to a slender tower of eleven heads. Behind him stands an aureole whose front is lined with rows of small arms. He is 23.5 cm tall yet weighs 5.2 kg. Where the gilding has worn away the bronze shows through, and traces of red pigment still cling to the crowns and the back.

The bodhisattva who hears every cry

Avalokiteshvara embodies compassion: he listens to the suffering of all beings and stays in the world to relieve it. A well-known legend tells how his head shattered with grief when he saw how many beings were still suffering. Amitabha, the Buddha to whom he is bound, gathered the pieces into eleven heads so that he could look in every direction, and gave him a thousand arms to help everywhere at once. That is why a small Amitabha crowns the stack of heads. In Tibet, Chenrezig is regarded as the protector of the land, and his mantra is Om Mani Padme Hum.

Nepalese casting, Tibetan imagery

For centuries, Newar metalworkers of the Kathmandu Valley have made images for Buddhist patrons in both Nepal and Tibet, so many Nepalese bronzes, this one included, follow Tibetan iconography. The soft faces, the mechanically repeated aureole and the open base without a sealing plate point to workshop production from the middle of the twentieth century, around 1930–1970. This is neither a 19th-century temple bronze nor a recent decorative casting.

Description

The eleven heads are arranged as three tiers of peaceful faces, topped by a wrathful face and, at the very summit, a small Amitabha. The principal hands are joined at the chest in anjali mudra, the gesture of reverence. The raised hands form vitarka mudra, the gesture of teaching, while the lower hands hang open. Only the front of the aureole carries the rows of small arms; its back is a ribbed plate.

Condition

The gilding is worn on the robe, the feet and the rim of the aureole. Green copper oxidation sits in the folds. Red pigment remains on the upper back, in the crowns, on the shoulder sashes and along the inner rim of the base. There is an open cavity between the ankles. The underside is open, showing rough core remains and flakes of gold.

Specifications

• Origin: Nepal, Newar workshop, Tibetan iconography
• Date: 20th century, c. 1930–1970
• Material: gilt bronze, remains of red pigment
• Subject: standing eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig)
• Dimensions: H 23.5 × W 16 cm
• Weight: 5.2 kg
• SKU: 844

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