A gilt-bronze figure of Amitayus

Tibet, 16th century

Tibet, 16th century
Finely cast seated crossed-legged on a double-lotus pedestal with the hands in dhyana mudra holding the eternal vase, his benign face flanked by a pair of long pendulous ears and centred by a raised urna, the head and domed ushnisha covered with tight curls and topped with a knop, wearing a robe adorned with an incised pattern draped across his left shoulder. 18.8cm (7 1/2in) high.

十六世紀 銅鎏金無量壽佛像

Amitayus is one of the most popular meditational deities in Vajravana Buddhism where he is highly revered for his longevity attributes, pure perception and awareness of the emptiness of phenomena. According to the 'Larger Sūtra of Immeasurable Life', compiled during the 1st or 2nd century AD, the infinite merits possessed by the deity resulted from the performance of good deeds in his past lives as a bodhisattva named Dharmakara. Having attained Enlightenment, the deity resided in the wondrous realm of Sukhavati.

Compare with a related gilt-bronze figure of Amitayus, 16th century, wearing a more elaborate tiara but adorned in a similar way as the present example, illustrated by U.von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p.440, fig.118b.

A related gilt copper-alloy figure of Amitayus, Tibet, 16th century, was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 26 November 2019, lot 10.