TIBET, 16TH CENTURY

The lack of iconographic references within the pantheon of Buddhist deities suggests that this statue likely depicts a deity from Bon, the indigenous religious tradition of Tibet. Compare the iconography of the present work with a gilt-bronze figure of Kunzang Akor, the meditational form of Shenlha Okar, one of the Four Transcendent Lords central to Bon tradition, sold at Bonhams New York, 19 March 2019, lot 959. For another closely related example, see S. Karmay and J. Watt, Bon: The Magic Word, 2007, p. 50, fig. 38.