An extremely finely cast gilt Nepalese statue of the four armed Bodhisattva of compassion sitting on a finely cast double lotus base. His first two hands in Namaste mudra his secondary hands holding a Lotus and prayer beads. A prayer cord falls across the left shoulder of the deity and drapes downward to his waist and a pleated dhoti rests over his legs. Avalokiteshvara is the archangelic Bodhisattva of Great Compassion. His vast vows to save all beings are said by the texts to be inconceivable. With his special mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM (“Hail the jewel in the lotus!”), he travels to all realms of the universe in his tireless quest to deliver beings from suffering. In one of his special sutras, the Jewel-Casket Array (Karandavyuha), he actually descends to the hells of Yama. From the fingers of his thousand arms, magic waters flowed and cooled the flames of the molten iron realm. The Tibetans believe that the White Lotus of Compassion Sutra (Karunapundarika) records how he took a special vow to free the Tibetans, to tame them and turn them away from their violent ways, and to turn their land of barbaric savagery into a land bright with happiness. With his female colleagues, Tara and Bhrikuti, and his fierce form Hayagriva, the Horse-Necked One, as well as many other forms, this Bodhisattva is probably the most universally beloved divine figure in Mahayana Buddhism. He wears a beaded tiara decorated with rosettes. The torso is finely cast and the statue as a whole is very finely executed, possibly in Tibet by one of the many Nepali ateliers.