Manjushri (“Gentle Glory”) is one of the most important bodhisattvas of the Buddhist pantheon introduced to Tibet starting from the 7th century. His image appears in India from the 1st century onwards with a role of spokesman of the historical Buddha Sakyamuni: he subsequently took on the role of keeper of wisdom and teacher of the Buddhist doctrine. Manjushri is usually represented in the act of brandishing a flaming sword in his right cleaving the darkness of ignorance. The esoteric schools of late Buddhism elaborated various forms of him, with multiple arms and heads.
The bodhisattva is shown here as four-armed, in an esoteric manifestation frequently encountered outside India, in a style that relates to the Indian aesthetics inherited by the Newar artists of the Nepal Valley under the Malla dynasties (1200-1769) and then transmitted to all of Tibet. Clad in princely garments, finely embroidered on the borders, and surrounded by a long fluttering sash, Manjushri is adorned with earrings, armlets and necklaces studded with turquoises; it is likely that his head wore a crown, probably lost like the emblems he would have held in the now empty hands: a book, a bow and an arrow. The bodhisattva wields a sword with the primary right hand, while the other hands are poised in exorcising gestures. He sits in the noble posture, called of the lotus or diamond, upon a moon disc resting on a huge waterlily of which petals, sepals and pistils can be seen. His hair is plaited and gathered up in a high and elaborate chignon, girded at the base by a ring and surmounted by a gem.
The interest of this image also lies in the fact that it was made with a mixed technique: lost-wax casting and repoussé.