A very rare gilt-bronze inscribed figure of Buddha VīrasenaTibet, 16th/17th centuryWell cast seated in dhayanasana on a double-lotus pedestal framed by beaded borders, the hands held in dharmachakra mudra holding two lotus stems bearing a sutra and a sword rising to the shoulders, wearing a dhoti folded over the left shoulder, the benevolent face well modelled below the usnisha and flanked by elongated ears, the reverse of the pedestal with an incised Tibetan inscription reading 'dpa' bo'i sde la na mo'. 19.2cm (7 5/8in) high.注脚十六/十七世紀 銅鎏金精進軍佛坐像Provenance: an English private collection來源：英國私人收藏The incised inscription on the reverse of the pedestal དཔའ་བོའི་སྡེ་ལ་ན་མོ་ reads: 'dpa' bo'i sde la na mo', which may be translated as 'Worship to Vīrasena', thus identifying the present figure as the Buddha Vīrasena.Vīrasena, also known as Pawö-dé ('Leader of the Warriors') is one of the 35 Buddhas of Confession. These are known from the Mahāyāna Sutra of the Three Heaps (Triskandhadharmasutra). This sutra describes the practice of purification by confession and making prostrations to these Buddhas and is part of the larger Stack of Jewels sutra (Ratnakutasutra).The Buddhas of Confession represent the omnipresence of Buddha with the power to help sentient beings realise the nature of their sin. The present lot would therefore, have belonged to a set of 35 Confessional Buddhas that have a similar appearance to each other. Compare with a related gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Viranandi, holding a sun in the right hand and a lotus in the left, Tibet, 18th century, from the Museum der Kulturen, Basel, illustrated on Himalayanart.org (item no.3313897).