A silver-inlaid copper alloy figure of a bodhisattva, Swat Valley, circa 7th century

Collection of Peng Kai-dong, alias Nitta Muneichi (1912-2006), acquired in the 1950s and 60s.

The rare and early bronze depicts a bodhisattva standing in a slightly flexed posture, tribhanga, with right hand raised in abhaya mudra, the lowered left hand holding an unidentified attribute, and wearing bodhisattva jewellery and a short ribbed dhoti. The pedestal with a double row of broad lotus petals is typical of early bronzes attributed to the Swat Valley, see Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 85.

This selection of Buddhist bronze figures emanates from the collection of Nitta Muneichi (1912-2006), who was born in Taipei as Peng Kai-dong, but left Taipei for Japan as an adolescent and later took on a Japanese name. He became a highly successful businessman with a company covering a wide range of different industries. After the Second World War, he opened an antique shop on Ginza in Tokyo and in 1950 he began collecting Buddhist bronzes, which eventually became his main collecting interest. An exhibition of his collection was held at the National Palace Museum, Taipei in 1987 (The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom). In 2003 he donated 358 Buddhist bronzes from East, Southeast and South Asia to the National Palace Museum, which exhibited them in 2004, including a similar standing Acuoye Avalokiteśhvara (The Casting of Religion. A Special Exhibition of Mr. Peng Kai-dong’s Donation, cat. no. 161). A further donation of forty-eight pieces was made after his death. The superb Dali gilt-bronze seated figure of Avalokiteshvara, Acuoye Guanyin, formerly in the Nitta collection, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, 8th October 2022, lot 10 for a record price.