Provenance:
Leonidas Goulandris Collection, Switzerland
Carlton Rochell Asian Art, New York
American Private Collection, acquired in 2013
Published:
Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pp. 252-253, no. 54E
Jeff Watt & Walter Arader, Embodying Enlightenment: Buddhist Art of the Himalayas, 2015, p. 6, no. 3
Exhibited:
“Embodying Enlightenment: Buddhist Art of the Himalayas,” McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, September 11, 2015-January 3, 2016
The Sadhanamala contains three descriptions of an ascetic form of Manjushri identified as Siddhaikavira with the right hand displaying varada mudra and the left hand holding a blue lily (utpala), now missing on the present sculpture. Siddhaikavira is a white form of the bodhisattva Manjushri, the Buddhist deity of wisdom, intelligence, and enlightenment. The name Siddhaikavira translates to "Solitary Hero" or "Accomplished Hero," and he is often depicted in the ascetic manner as indicated by the long strands of hair falling over the shoulders and the necklace adorned with claws.
He sits in the royal ease posture (lalitasana) with the right leg pendent on a double lotus throne. The molded rectangular base is supported on four legs with scrollwork. Siddhaikavira is wearing a dhoti decorated with bands of stylized foliage, double beaded belt with central clasp, upavita trailing down his torso, diagonal sash, armlets with festooned decoration, necklace with spherical jewels and tiger’s claws, hoop earrings, and tripartite crown. His face radiates a benign countenance, with slightly-smiling copper-inlaid lips, heavy-lidded eyes and urna inlaid with silver, and finely-incised arched eyebrows. The separately-cast aureole now missing.
