Manjuvajra, the six-armed esoteric form of Manjushri, emerged late in the Pala period; all known images date to the eleventh and twelfth centuries. A visualised form of Manjushri, with three faces and six arms, Manjuvajra is described in the Nishpanna Yogavali (Garland of Perfection Yoga) as providing a path to wisdom and intelligence. The crossed hands at the chest invoke the embrace of his consort, Prajna (wisdom); the display of weapons, the dispelling of ignorance; and the wisdom book (pustaka), the path.

This complex and delicately modelled sculpture is a fine example of the refinement of Pala figuration. Created during the height of Bengal's Golden Age, this masterpiece demonstrates the elegance and artistic innovation for which art from the Pala period is renowned: the relaxed plasticity of form; the slender physiognomy and elaborate jewellery; the extensive use of precious metal inlay.

An almost identical figure of Manjuvajra with silver and copper inlay, currently on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. L.2017.311), was included in the exhibition Crowns of the Vajra Masters: Ritual Art of Nepal, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2017-2018.

Another Pala inlaid copper alloy figure of Manjushri, but in his more traditional form, illustrated by Alice Getty, The Gods of Northern Buddhism: Their History and Iconography, New York, 1988, pl. XXXIa, was sold in our New York rooms, 24th March 2011, lot 26.

文殊，象徵智慧，乃大乘佛教最為重要神祇之一，右手持智慧劍，意喻洞悉一切，斷除執念罣礙。文殊金剛並與六波羅蜜關聯，即布施、持戒、忍辱、精進、禪定、智慧，亦稱六度，為菩薩修行之法。本像造於帕拉晚期，十一至十二世紀，三面六臂，佛教經典記載，文殊指引眾生智慧之道，佛像雙臂交疊於胸前，象徵環抱智慧，手中法器，意味斬斷慾念，蓮托典籍，乃成就之道。

文殊金剛像，細緻生動，反映帕拉造像藝術之高度，典雅而創新，姿態柔美靈動，瓔珞繁麗，大量運用金屬鑲嵌技術，相互輝映，華美端莊。

參考極為相類一例，現借展於紐約大都會藝術博物館（館藏編號：L.2017.311），曾展出於《Crowns of the Vajra Masters: Ritual Art of Nepal》展覽，大都會藝術博物館，紐約，2017-2018 年。比較另一例帕拉銅錯銀文殊像，風格較傳統，錄於 Alice Getty，《The Gods of Northern Buddhism: Their History and Iconography》，紐約，1988年，圖版 XXXIa，售於紐約蘇富比，2011年3月24日，編號26。