Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Multi-armed forms of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara were favored in Buddhist worship in the Malay Peninsula and western Indonesia—territory broadly defined in the late first millennium as being under the suzerainty of the Srivijayan kingdom. Three spectacular large-scale examples are known, all eight-armed; two were found in the peninsula—at Chaiya (cat. no. 166) and Perak (cat. no. 157), respectively—and one in Sumatra. Here the bodhisattva holds in his ten radiating arms the objects that define his powers. The cult of Avalokiteshvara clearly enjoyed special favor in western Indonesia at this time.
cat. no. 161
cat. no. 161
Artwork Details
- Title: Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
- Date: 9th century
- Culture: Western Indonesia
- Medium: Copper alloy
- Dimensions: H. (incl. tenon) 13 3/8 in. (34 cm); W. 7 7/8 in. (20 cm); D. 3 1/8 in. (8 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Lent by Musée National des Arts Asiatiques–Guimet, Paris, Gift of J. J. Meijer (MG3816)
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art