A gilt-wood figure of Phakpa Lokeshvara, after the 7th century original

Collection of Wesley and Carolyn Halpert, New York.

Sotheby's New York, 23rd March 2004, lot 65.

Carlton Rochell, New York.

Ian Alsop, "Phakpa Lokesvara of the Potala," Orientations, April 1990, fig. 5.

Faces of Tibet. The Wesley and Carolyn Halpert Collection, Carlton Rochell Ltd., New York, 2003, cat. no. 15.

This statue is modeled after a renowned image housed in the Phakpa Lhakhang shrine in the Potala, considered the second most sacred icon in Tibet. The original image is believed to have been brought from Nepal to Tibet in the seventh century and consecrated by Songtsen Gampo, the first king of the historical period.

The standing bodhisattva is finely carved and painted, depicted wearing a sheer dhoti with a patterned sash falling across his thighs tied above his left knee, his right hand lowered in varada mudra, his hair arranged in locks on either side of his head behind a tall three-leaf crown with an image of a standing bodhisattva in the central panel, his face with a benign expression.