A magnificent and important gilt bronze figure of Avalokitesvara China, Sui / early Tang Dynasty, 7th / 8th Century

superbly modeled standing in sinuous tribhanga with the right hip thrust to the side and the left leg lightly bent and draped as if the deity was only just about to shift its weight, the legs wrapped in long dhoti belted at the waist below softly rolling flesh, leaving the torso bare and draped with ropes of jewels, the left arm hanging down bearing a bottle in its curling fingers and balanced by the right arm borne up with the long elegant fingers held open in a supremely relaxed and elegant gesture, the large head with eyes downcast in contemplative manner between the taut brows and bud mouth, all framed by large ears with long pendent lobes, the thick locks of hair drawn up in a high chignon secured by a tiara of three large foliate panels, with two locks of hair undulating down the shoulders flanked by long fluttering scarves, the drum pedestal set into a separate stepped base cast as a lotus flower with foliate wall incised with veins, encircled by pendent double-lobed lappets and widening steps of circular, foliate and octagonal section with 'jeweled' studs, a tang at the back of the deity's head securing a separate circular mandorla formed by radiating lobed lappets, a double-ring interrupted by 'jeweled' studs and a wide band of flames rising to a high peak, effectively conveying an illusion of flickering divine light

In the fine delicacy of the features, the convincing volumes of the fleshy waist and hands, and the incisive understanding of both transitioning body weight and full form under drapery, the present example is an early masterpiece. The necklaces appear set to receive inlay and traces of pigment are present over the gilding in the eyes, hair and 'flame'-aureole, enlivening the divine image.

The present bronze exemplifies a crucial sculptural transition from the stylised volumes of the Sui Dynasty to the fully rounded fleshy forms of the Tang Dynasty. Various elements are strongly influenced by the style of the Sui dynasty, in particular the symmetrical long flaring scarves flanking the figure, the studded halo in the mandorla and the treatment of the lobed lappets and studded decoration in the base, which are closely related to Sui stone sculpture. Other elements of special note are its extremely large size for a figure of Avalokitesvara, implying it was a particularly important commission, and the superlative sculptural realisation of the divine image.

A similar figure with openwork flame halo, of more rigid pose and probably slightly earlier date, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is published in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, London, 1925, pl.278. Compare also the central Avalokitesvara figure in a famous Sui dynasty votive triad group, formerly in the Nitta Collection, now in the collection of the National Palace Museum, exhibited The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom, Taipei, 1987, pl.74, and discussed in detail by Matsubara Saburo, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Tokyo, 1966, pl.203 (a) & (b). Compare also a Sui figure with similarly delicate features and fingers, from the Esei Bunko collection of the Hosokawa family, Japan, illustrated ibid., pl.224 (a) & (c), and again in Hugo Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Tokyo, 1967, pl.50,

These earlier influences appear to reach full efflorescence in the present figure; compare a bodhisattva with very similar features, closely related to the present example with similar conical base, illustrated by Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, London, 1925, pl.418B, cited as from the Takenouchi Collection, Japan, but illustrated again, in the Sano Museum, Shizuoka Prefecture, by Matsubara Saburo, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Tokyo, 1966, pl.263(b), with other views pls.264(c)-(d), as well as another pl.263(a), with other views pls.264(a)-(b).

Compare a figure with slightly more rounded features but equally sinuous posture, from the collection of Grenville Winthrop, now in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, illustrated by Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p.500, fig.142A.  The fine execution of the facial features and the hands also appears related to that on a Tang seated Buddha with similarly elegant fingers in dharmachakra mudra, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated op.cit., p.292, figs.267A & B, particularly in the detail of the bronze struts within the conical base, also found on the present figure.

The cult of Avalokitesvara, also known as Lokeshvara, 'Lord of the World', appears in full force through the prevalence of the Pure Land cults from the sixth century onwards, as the bodhisattva is cited in the scriptures such as the Lotus Sutra as the divine guide for the soul of the initiate into the Western Paradise. In the present image, the deity is portrayed here about to use a feathery fly-whisk, or willow-leaf, to sprinkle water from a bottle upon the worshipper, thereby bringing liberation from suffering and assisting bodhi or awareness.