A Central Tibetan Gilt Copper and Copper Alloy Figure of the Buddha (1700 to 1800 Tibet)

11.00cm high (4.33 inches high)

Provenance: Ex collection Otis Skinner (1858-1942) an American stage actor
Ex New York collection Cornelia Otis Skinner (1901-1979) daughter and an actress famous for her stage monologues.
Thence by decent to Otis Skinner Blodget, a retired actor’s agent

The Tibetan people perceive their country as a sacred cosmos, a holy landscape guarded by mighty God’s and filled with centres of ritual and mystical power. Within this landscape every natural feature, every building and every deed is charged with religious significance. Mountains are often the seats of awe inspiring deities, their caves places for meditation and their winding trails emblematic of the path to enlightenment. By marking the landscape with cairns, inscriptions, rock paintings, banners and votive offerings, Tibetans perpetually reinvent their world, reaffirming the lives of the ancient saints and sages whose heroic acts infused the universe with potent spiritual meaning.
Tibetan images are considered to be living embodiments of deities. Offerings of food, water, music, fine perfumes, incense, scarves of luxurious silk and finally candlelight, are made everyday to the Buddha’s. This particular figure represents Amitabha (or Amitayus) the ‘Buddha of infinite life’.

A Central Tibetan Gilt Copper and Copper Alloy Figure of the Buddha, Amitabha
Seated on a lotus throne. The base plate marked with auspicious emblems
18th Century

Size: 11cm high – 4¼ ins high