Manjushri Yab Yum Statue – Buddhist Figure with Filigree

Manjushri, revered in the Buddhist tradition as the bodhisattva of wisdom, is shown here with his consort in Yab Yum. In this form, his role as the embodiment of insight is combined with an iconographic structure transmitted within Vajrayana over centuries.

Manjushri is seated on a lotus base in padma asana, his consort seated facing him on his lap. In his right hand he holds the flaming sword of wisdom. Beside his left shoulder rises a lotus flower bearing the book of prajnaparamita; his left hand, in vitarka mudra, holds the stem of the lotus behind the back of his consort. Both figures wear the crown and the full ornaments of a bodhisattva. The consort is shown wearing only her ornaments and holds a vajra in her right hand and a skull cup, kapala, in her left. She bears a third eye on her forehead.

The lotus base and Manjushri’s robe are decorated with filigree. Fine wire spirals are filled with small arched elements and assembled into a coherent ornamental pattern. Colored stones are set into the filigree. Three dzi beads are mounted at the front of the base, with a further bead on the reverse.

The sculpture follows Vajrayana visual traditions of the Kathmandu Valley, in which attribute, posture, and ornament form a coherent iconographic unity.

Manjushri 

Statue made of copper, traditional lost-wax cast, decorated with fine filigree, gold- and silver-plated, set with colored stones. The figure is patinated. The faces are set in gold. Handmade in Nepal.

• Height: 9" / 23 cm
• Width: 6" / 16 cm
• Depth: 4" / 10 cm
• Weight: 2,106 g

NOTE
The face painting is a cold gold application and water-soluble.