18th century|Cast with eleven heads, the principal head surmounted by three rows of three smaller heads crowned by a single head of Buddha Amitabha, wearing a long flowing dhoti with elaborate jewellery, with four pairs of arms in various mudras and holding various attributes, standing on an oval lotus-petal base. 24cm (9 1/2in) high (2).|十八世紀 銅鎏金十一面觀音菩薩立像Provenance: a British private collection來源： 英國私人收藏The eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara is an esoteric form of the Bodhisattva and became widely employed in tantric visualisations. According to the Karandavyuha Sutra and the Flower Garland Sutra, both compiled between the 5th and the 6th centuries AD, the eleven towering heads crowning the head of the deity represented the ten steps towards enlightenment. The fan of arms holding different attributes signified the measureless means to save all sentient souls from hell; see T.E.Neville, Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara: Chenresigs, Kuan-Yin or Kannon Bodhisattva; its Origin and Iconography, New Delhi, 1999.A similar gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara, 17th/18th century, is illustrated in Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, pp.106-107, no.46. A closely related eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, 18th century, is in the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Acc.no.74.36/58. Two related gilt-bronze figures of eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, 18th century, were sold in these Rooms on 10 November 2016, lot 112 and on 15 May 2014, lot 394.