A fine and rare gilt bronze figure of Avalokitesvara China, Sui Dynasty, late 6th Century

the benevolent deity standing upon an open lotus flower rising from a stylised stem with scrolling leaves and floret issuing from concentric steps and double-lobed lappet collar on a stepped octagonal base, supported on a high pedestal with barbed open panels and slightly waisted legs, the elongated figure with left hip thrust out and right leg slightly bent, the long right arm held pendent to grasp an amphora bottle and the left arm bent up bearing a feathery whisk, the curvaceous torso left bare but for ropes of jewels, and the face with meditative expression beneath Buddha Amitabha seated on a lotus with hands in anjalimudra set before the high topknot, the separate openwork mandorla with cruciform panels within concentric rings framed by stylised scrolls and flames rising to a flaming jewel at the peak

The particularly elongated and columnar treatment of the body suggests a date before the Tang Dynasty development towards fully rounded sculptural treatment. Various other elements point towards a Sui Dynasty date, including the delineation of the lotus-flower base, the rudimentary incised lines used to model drapery on the reverse side and the particular combination of scrollwork and flames in the mandorla. Compare two related Sui Dynasty bodhisattva bronzes, Matsubara Saburo, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Tokyo, 1966, pls. 228-231. Gilt-bronzes of this size from this early intermediary period are rare.