A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF USHNISHAVIJAYA QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

seated in vajraparyankasana on a double-lotus base with a beaded upper edge, with the primary of her eight hands held in dharmachakramudra, clad in a loose dhoti with finely detailed floral borders and billowing scarves entwined around the shoulders and arms, the chest and arms adorned with elaborate beaded jewellery, each of the three faces with three eyes and a serene expression, all below an intricate floral diadem enclosing the high coiffed double top-knot

Sotheby's New York, 7th December 1983, lot 88.
Eskenazi Ltd, London.

Ushnishavijaya, 'Victorious Crown Ornament', the goddess of long-life, is one of three special long-life deities along with the Buddha Amitayus and White Tara. Together they are known as the Three Long-life Deities of Tantric Buddhism. In the words of Jamyang Kyentse Wangpo (1820-1892), Ushnishavijaya is "the colour of an autumn moon; with three faces, white, yellow and blue and eight hands. Each face has three very large eyes. The first right hand holds a visvavajra, second a white lotus with Amitabha residing, third an arrow and the fourth in supreme generosity. The first left holds a vajra lasso, second a bow, third bestowing protection and fourth in meditative equipoise holding an auspicious nectar vase; complete with silks and jewel ornaments, seated in [vajra] posture. Within the outer circle of the stupa, on the right [side of the chaitya], above a moon is Avalokiteshvara with a body white in colour; the left hand holds a lotus. On the left [of the chaitya], above a sun is Vajrapani, blue; the left hand holds an utpala with vajra; standing in a peaceful manner and adorned with silks and jewels."

A Central Tibetan prototype, a bronze figure of Ushnishavijaya from the 17th/early 18th century, is illustrated by Wang Jiapeng, Buddhist Art from Rehol. Tibetan Buddhist Images and Ritual Objects from the Qing Dynasty Summer Palace at Chengde, Taipei, 1999, p.92, pl. 26. The current figure closely adheres to the Tibetan example.

For gilt-bronze figures of Ushnishavijaya in Western collections, see an 18th century Tibetan figure in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, illustrated on Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 77551, and a Chinese figure from the J.P.H.Y. collection, Belgium, illustrated by Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pl. 157C.