A copper alloy figure of Juichimen Kannon, Japan, Kamakura period, 14th century

English Private Collection

Acquired in London, early 1980s.

Sotheby's New York, 17th September 2014, lot 485.

Ekadashamukha Lokeshvara (eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara), is referred to as Juichimen Kannon in Japan. This iconography appeared during the Nara period (710-794) and in 733, priest Genjo translated such texts which later gained popularity among the populace during the Heian period (794-1185). 

The eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara and the thousand-armed manifestation, are considered esoteric forms of the bodhisattva, believed to have overcome eleven hardships in order to attain Buddhahood. In Japan, the earliest example of Ekadashamukha Lokeshvara is in a mural painting from the seventh-century in Hōryūji Temple Golden Hall, illustrated in Takaaki Sawa, Art in Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, New York, 1972, pl. 45. Other examples from the Nara period include one in the Shorinji in Nara, classified as a national treasure, illustrated in Takaaki Sawa, ibid., pl. 52; and one in Kannonji in Kyoto, also illustrated in Takaaki Sawa, ibid., p. 35, no. 29. In the Hasedera temple in Nara, there are two statues of this kind. One is a seated example and the other is standing, holding a staff on a rock.  

Compare a stylistically related and similarly-dated gilt and lacquered wood figure of Juichimen Kannon in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession no. 1975.268.167), illustrated on the Museum's website.