STATUETTE DE VISHVARUPA EN LAITON NÉPAL, XIXE SIÈCLESTATUETTE DE VISHVARUPA EN LAITONNÉPAL, XIXE SIÈCLEHimalayan Art Resources item no. 205061 20.5 cm (8 1/8 in.) highA BRASS FIGURE OF VISHVARUPA NEPAL, 19TH CENTURY 尼泊爾 十九世紀 維斯瓦鲁帕銅像This brass figure likely represents the cosmic, universal form of Vishnu as Vishvarupa, accompanied here by his female consort. During the Late Malla period, representations of Hindu and Buddhist deities with a multitude of arms and heads served as visual aids for teachers who sought to clarify the complex systems of esoteric meditational practices to their disciples. See a stone figure bearing similar attributes but without a consort, published in Grewenig and Rist, eds., Buddha - 2000 Years of Buddhist Art: 232 Masterpieces, Völklingen, 2016, pp. 346-7, no. 146, as well as a figure of Chakrasamvara as Vishvarupa Mahasamvara, published in Huntington and Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss, 2003, pp. 282-3, no. 77.Provenance:Alain Presencer, UK, 2000s