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Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
Not on view
This is the earliest metal bodhisattva sculpture found in Myanmar. Four-armed, with an Amitabha Buddha in the headdress, it is Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of Buddhist compassion. The flexed posture suggests that it and a companion Maitreya probably formed a triad with a central Buddha. It is linked to the international Buddhist style of the late seventh and eighth centuries. It stands alone in the corpus of Pyu bronzes and therefore may be an import from a neighboring region, perhaps the Thai Peninsula, or its maker may have learned his skills elsewhere.
cat. no. 144
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