ABS 249
Code: ABS 249
Country: Central Asia
Style: Kashmir style in central Asia
Date: 900 - 1000
Dimensions in cm WxHxD: 7.6 x 14 x 5
Materials: Gilt silver alloy
Primordial Buddha Vajrasattva
This statue, likely from the Dunhuang region, on the Silk Road, depicts the Buddha Vajrasattva. The artist used a silver alloy to render the whiteness of the skin, the other elements being gilded. In keeping with usual iconography, the right hand holds a vajra in front of the heart and an inverted bell against his thigh in the left. This Buddha, very popular in Vajrayana Buddhism, condenses the five Buddha families and the hundred peaceful and wrathful deities. He is especially invoked for mental purification.
Stylistically, this statue possesses many typical features of the North-West Indian production: circular halo and pointed aureole with flamed pattern, slim waist and muscular figure, narrow seat with constricted lotus.
This statue, likely from the Dunhuang region, on the Silk Road, depicts the Buddha Vajrasattva. The artist used a silver alloy to render the whiteness of the skin, the other elements being gilded. In keeping with usual iconography, the right hand holds a vajra in front of the heart and an inverted bell against his thigh in the left. This Buddha, very popular in Vajrayana Buddhism, condenses the five Buddha families and the hundred peaceful and wrathful deities. He is especially invoked for mental purification.
Stylistically, this statue possesses many typical features of the North-West Indian production: circular halo and pointed aureole with flamed pattern, slim waist and muscular figure, narrow seat with constricted lotus.