Description:

Sino-Tibetan Gilt Bronze Eight-Armed Avalokitesvara
A splendid 18th Century bronze of the most popular Bodhisattva in Mahyana Buddhism, Avalokitesvara. He stands in samapada, his primary hands before him in namaskara mudra with the remaining six arms radiating around him, his slender torso draped in jewels with colored inlay, his layered garments incised with lotus scroll borders and framed by applied trailing scarves, his three gold-gilded faces painted with serene features with traces of blue pigment in his hair encircled by a jeweled diadem. Semi-precious jewels adorn this beautiful gilt bronze Splendid detailing. Avalokitesvara is the fourth Dhyani-Bodhisattva and is here portrayed with eight arms, symbolic of the hundreds of arms that reach out with compassion to heal the world. His name literally means "The Lord who looks in every direction" with compassion. Avalokitesvara can manifest in many miraculous forms, and has incarnated 333 times on earth, all with the purpose of saving mankind. His most famous incarnation was in China where he is especially venerated as a female Bodhisattva Kuan Shi Yin (Kuan Yin or Guanyin or Kun Yum), the beloved Bodhisattva of Compassion who eases the suffering of the world. He is one of the three "savior" Bodhisattvas, also called Kwan-ze-on or Kwannon (Kannon) in Japan, or Nidubarujekci. The potent mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, perhaps the most famous of the mantras, is dedicated to this most loved of the Bodhisattvas. Called the "All pitying one" he is the spiritual son of Amida Buddha and his Manushi-Buddha is Shakyamuni (The Historical Budha). Height 16 3/4 inches (42.6cm).