A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF MAITREYA TIBET, 15TH/16TH CENTURYA GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF MAITREYATIBET, 15TH/16TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no. 1409 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm) high西藏 十五/十六世紀 銅鎏金彌勒菩薩像The placement of Maitreya's feet resting atop a square platform is a posture known as both bhadrasana (the auspicious pose) and pralambapadasana (legs extended posture). He interlocks both of his fingers in the gesture of exposition (dharmachakrapavartina mudra), awaiting for the prophesized moment when he will descend from his heavenly abode of Tushita and into the earthly realm of Ketumati to be the next Buddha. Compare the figure's dignified features and elaborately decorated platform with two other Maitreya images, one from the Berti Aschmann collection in the Rietberg Museum (see Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment, 1995, pl. 39) and another with similar floral decorations published in van Alphen et Al., Cast for Eternity, 2005, pp. 200-1, no. 67. Provenance:Austrian-German Private Collection, formed between 1920-1952, by reputeGalerie Zacke, Austria, 28 April 1989, lot 38