A large silver and copper inlaid bronze figure of Amitabha Buddha, Tibet, 14th century | 西藏 十四世紀 銅錯紅銅嵌銀阿彌陀佛坐像

Often thought to have a western Tibetan origin, this type of early Tibetan sculpture is more likely to be from the central regions where early stylistic influence was the art of eastern India during the Pala period (8th-12th c). Features in the Pala idiom include silver inlaid eyes and copper lower lip, the tall three-panel crown and fishtail crown-ties, stylistic elements that are related to Indian works such as the Pala bronzes from Kurkihar, see for example Susan L. Huntington, The Pala-Sena Schools of Sculpture, Leiden, 1984, pl. 185. The style seems to have been popular in Tibet from around the twelfth through the fourteenth century, about the same period that strong eastern Indian influence is seen in Tibetan painting. The Tibetan bronzes in this style are mostly un-gilded, like their Indian antecedents. Tibetan sculpture after the fourteenth century is increasingly gilded in the Nepalese manner. The statue bears remarkably close comparison to a Ratnasambhava in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, with similar tall three panel crown, large hoop earrings, silver and copper necklace design, lotus stems at either side and the inlaid copper band on the lotus pedestal, see Marylin M. Rhie and Robert A. F. Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, London, 1996, p. 350, cat. 143.