81. RARE LARGE ORMOLU STATUETTE OF AVALOKITESHVARA WITH ELEVEN HEADS 18th century A RARE LARGE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF ELEVEN-HEADED AVALOKITESHVARA 18th century Heavily cast, the standing figure with eight arms eleven heads arranged in three tiers (the top two heads missing), the principal hands held in anjalimudra, the other six hands fanned out, one hand holding a kundika, wearing a fine two-layered dhoti with finely chased floral borders, tied at the waist below a bejewelled belt, a fine shawl over a deerskin draped around the shoulders, wearing elaborate bejewelled necklaces and bangles. 49 cm (19 1/4 in) high 十八世紀 銅鎏金十一面千手觀音像 Provenance: A French private collection acquired in Paris in the 1970s. 來源 法國私人收藏，於1970年代得自巴黎 In Buddhist philosophy, the bodhisattva is a being who postpones his or her own liberation for the sake of ushering others along the path to enlightenment. The figure of Avalokiteshvara in its eleven-headed aspect represents the supreme, highest embodiment of compassion. Buddhist tradition holds that this bodhisattva, seeing the state of many beings throughout the world, was so moved to help alleviate others' suffering that his single head became a tower of eleven in order to see panoramically, and his two arms multiplied such that he could reach out in all directions. In this superb representation of the Compassionate One, the universal aspiration of a Buddhist deity and the regal status of a prince are united in a single figure that combines spiritual wisdom with worldly authority. The eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara was an important iconographic figure throughout the Buddhist world over a long duration of time. Masterfully crafted, the present Tibetan example can be compared with others from places as widespread as Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia, and East Asia. Compare with a Nepalese example in the collection of LA County Museum of Art, illustrated in P.Pal, Art of Nepal, 1885, p.36, fig. 17. See also a Tibeto-Chinese example at the Pacific Asia Museum, acc.no.1995.20.2; and a closely related Tibetan example in a private collection, HAR item no. 66738.