Standing Buddha

This bronze, one of the largest and most important Kashmiri bronzes to have survived, provides a spectacular example of the Kashmiri style. Its slightly elongated figures combine the naturalistic modeling of the Gandhara style (see Standing Shakyamuni) and the sensuality of Gupta art (see Standing Buddha). The Tibetan inscription on the base identifies the donor as Lha-tsun Nagaraja-Lha-tsun, or godmonk, denotes a monk of royal lineage. A man by that name was ordained as a monk in western Tibet between 998 and 1016, and he probably commissioned the image. The inscription also poses an interesting question: was the image commissioned by a Tibetan lama, made in Kashmir, and only inscribed in Tibet, or was it made in western Tibet itself, as many Kashmiri artists were active there?