A small, male figure, fully cast in bronze using the ‘waste mould’ method and standing on a round oval, hollow pedestal which was cast together. With long, curly hair, a draw-through apron (‘dhoti’) and many ornaments around the neck, on the chest, both upper arms, wrists, around the hips and both legs. Above the forehead, this dynamic and strikingly ornamented figure is apparently wearing a small, seated Buddha at the hairline (hard to see).
A seated Buddha figure above the forehead would identify this bronze as a depiction of the Buddhist Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (bodhisattva of mercy and compassion). Therefore this figure could be from the period of the Majapahit empire, which, emanating from eastern Java, also ruled Bali from the 13th until into the 16th century.
During this period, Buddhist and Hindu religions were also heavily mixed on Bali.
This small figure could be an accompanying figure of a larger group, or one of those figures that were often used to set up entire ‘mandalas’ (geometric meditation pictures) at the time – Bodhisattvas around the edges, Buddha in the centre.
The present bronze figure shows some age-related damage: The left hand has broken off, there is a casting flaw on the right hand, and cracks on the lower edge of the pedestal. The patina’s light-coloured and greenish specks correspond to the characteristic patina of an archaeological find!
c. 15th century/16th century (?) H: 13.3 cm. (ME)

Provenance: Privately purchased by a German collector in the late 1960s in the region of the Mount Agung volcano on Bali from a Balinese local. Currently: German Private Collection.