A RARE TERRA COTTA FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA

Description:

Northern Pakistan, Hund Region, 8th/ 9th cent.
H. 65 cm
The bodhisattva is finely moulded in standing posture, both arms broken, wearing dhoti fastened around the waist by a floral belt, his naked upper body decorated with several necklaces, including two consisting of simple beads contrasting with a third one made of flower heads, his face displaying a serene facial expression with downcast eyes below arched eyebrows that run into the nose-bridge, smiling lips, broken elongated earlobes, his hairdo combed in a chignon with a row of short tresses set around his forehead and secured with an elaborate tiara consisting of three large floral medallions.
From a German private collection, acquired from Marcel Nies, previously from an English private collection, prior to 2006 - A TL analysis (Archeolabs TL, BH-08-07-01-05-TL) is consistent with the dating of this lot
Publ. in “Body, Speech & Mind - Asian Religious Images”, Marcel Nies Oriental Art, 2006, pp. 16-17 and in “The Mystery of the Hund Statues” by Michael Henss, Arts of Asia, vol. 46 (January 2016), p. 35, no. 14 - Partly rest.,