A SILVER AND COPPER INLAID BRASS FIGURE OF MAITREYA CENTRAL TIBET, TSANG PROVINCE, CIRCA 15TH CENTURYA SILVER AND COPPER INLAID BRASS FIGURE OF MAITREYACENTRAL TIBET, TSANG PROVINCE, CIRCA 15TH CENTURY Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1408 6 in. (15.2 cm) high藏中 約十五世紀 錯銀錯紅銅彌勒菩薩銅像Maitreya is worshipped as both a bodhisattva of the present, and the Buddha of the Future. According to the Buddhist worldview, he is destined to succeed Shakyamuni (the present Buddha) in response to the Latter Day of the Law, an era of chaos and moral decline to reintroduce Buddhist teachings to humankind. Here, he is depicted in his princely appearance as a bodhisattva, with a water-pot (kundika) blooming from a flower by his shoulder and his right hand raised in the gesture of reassurance (abhaya mudra).This is an accomplished example of the brassy Tsangri style, with a handsome hourglass waist and a contemplative expression, heightened by silver inlaid eyes and copper inlaid lips. An example of Shadakshari Lokeshvara from the same workshop is published in von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, 1981, pp. 478-9, no. 133D. Also see an image of Maitreya and Manjuvajra from the Essen Collection and now in the Museum der Kulturen, Basel (HAR 3314766 & HAR 3314717).Provenance:Doris Wiener Gallery, New York, 28 January 1972Private New York Collection