Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Torso of Bodhisattva, probably Avalokiteshvara
Not on view
When the finely cast bronze icon of Avalokiteshvara (cat. no. 6) was excavated in peninsular Thailand in 1961, comparisons were quickly drawn with the famous bronze bodhisattva torso recovered in the Krishna River Delta, Andhra Pradesh, southern India (cat. no. 7). This bronze discovered in Thailand and related works recovered in Java and Borneo form a coherent class of object and are unlikely to have been locally cast. Such a widespread diffusion of the late Amaravati style of southern India, as represented by the Andhra Pradesh bronze, was probably a consequence both of the circulation of monks and of active commerce in religious icons and associated paraphernalia.
cat. no. 7
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