STATUETTE D'AVALOKITESHVARA EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVREVALLÉE DE SWAT, VIIE SIÈCLEHimalayan Art Resources item no. 489510.8 cm (4 1/4 in.) highProvenance: A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARASWAT VALLEY, 7TH CENTURY斯瓦特 七世紀 觀音銅像Provenance:With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970sElegantly holding the stem of the lotus flower between the thumb and fingers of his left hand, this bronze of Avalokiteshvara illustrates the sophisticated and well-balanced details of Swat Valley bronzes. The waisted double lotus base, pleated lower garment, athletic build, singular oval earring, and fan-like coiffure are distinctive elements of this Swat Valley style, which adopted a syncretic blend of arting from the Kushans, Guptas, and Sasanians.The verdant Swat Valley fell within the cultural boundaries of Gandhara and its Indo-Greek Buddhist culture which emerged after the invasion of Alexander the Great in 327 BCE. Populated with monasticplexes, this region became a significant locus for the spread of Buddhism throughout the Himalayas, specifically propagating the tenets of Mahayana Buddhism through the bodhisattva path to enlightenment. These enlightened beings, like Avalokiteshvara represented here, aid all sentient beings along their spiritual path.The manner in which this figure of Avalokiteshvara hold the diagnostic lotus flower carried over from Swat into Kashmir, Western Tibet, and farther east.pare to another bodhisattva with similar features sold at Sotheby's, London, 10 March 1986, lot 96. Another image of the same deity with similar physical proportions is illustrated in Jongeward,Buddhist Art of Gandhara: In the Ashmolean Museum, 2019, p. 158, no. 132.