Standing bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, cast bronze sculpture, 7th or 8th century, Thailand or Malaysia

This figure would have formed part of a Buddhist triad with an image of Buddha flanked by two attending bodhisattvas. The presence of a seated buddha, Amitabha, in the headdress identifies this figure as the Lord of Compassion, Avalokitesvara, as does the animal skin drawn around his waist. The treatment of the flaming nimbus and cascading loops of hair point to inspiration from eastern Indian models of the period. The style of the figure, together with the use of a dark metal, suggests it was cast in the Thai peninsular.

Purchased with Art Fund support

This object was formerly in the collection of Gilbert Beatty (1887–1967), born Richard John Beatty (also spelled Beattie). Between 1911 and 1951, Beatty worked in various administrative positions at rubber plantations and in government in Malacca, Malaysia. He assembled a large collection of South-East Asian art before the Second World War. In the late 1950s, he became friendly with his neighbours, the Knight family. David Knight (d. 1993), who was then a child, took a particular interest in Beatty’s collection, which he often saw during visits to Beatty’s home-cum-guest house, ‘Palm Beach.’

In 1960, Gilbert Beatty gave much of his collection to David Knight. The objects were shipped to the UK with the rest of the Knight family’s possessions later that year aboard HMS Oxford Castle. Beatty reportedly donated the remainder of his collection to a local museum. Between 1991 and his death in 1993, David Knight donated or sold much of the Beatty Collection to the Victoria & Albert Museum.

See Victoria & Albert Museum registered file numbers 1991/2044, 1993/599, 1993/600, 1993/823

Malay Peninsular Style

This figure is identifiable as Avalokitesvara by the image of the Buddha Amitabha in its headdress and by the antelope skin tied around its waist. At the time this image was made peninsular Thailand formed part of the maritime kingdom of Srivijaya whose kings were patrons of the monastic university at Nalanda in north-east India. The style of the figure's flaming nimbus and cascading hair shows influences from that part of India.

IS.72-1993