KASHMIR OR WESTERN TIBET, 10TH-11TH CENTURY

The tathagata Buddha Vairochana, the lord of Akanistha Heaven, performs the teaching gesture or dharmachakramudra, seated in vajrasana atop a double lotus base supported by a stepped platform. The figure’s wide eyes, arched brows, tall crown, simple ornamentation, lobed belly, dual petal-shaped lotus base and flaming aureole identify this sculpture as either of Kashmiri or Western Tibetan origin. The profile of the present figure matches the Kashmiri style of modeling quite closely, wherein a straight line can be drawn from the forehead to the tip of the nose; while the tiered, square base is more common among Western Tibetan bronzes. The assimilation of artistic style from Kashmir into Western Tibet in the tenth-eleventh century, as well as the presence of Kashmiri artists in Western Tibet, make it difficult to determine provenance with certainty. Compare the present example to a figure of Maitreya attributed to a Kashmiri artist working in Tibet, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 1).