Country Group: South and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam)

Item id: 8360

After owning this piece for decades, I believe this is an early Burmese emulation of a Himalayan bronze of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. I believe they had an early Tibetan or Nepalese prototype they worked from for the style, but they kept many features of early Burmese Buddha including the ball in lap, garb, the alloy used, and(especially) the ears and overall look and feel. I believe it looks like a later Burmese Pyu piece (9-11thC). Still, the face, headdress, and lotus petals all look like an early Burmese attempt at sculpting in the Himalayan style. I have seen a few other related early provincial Burmese attempts at emulating Himalayan art in SE Asian and US collections over the years, though none that I can find in books. . I could be wrong and am open to other theories about this piece.