12th-century Nepal Manjushri statue sells for Rs 166 crore
The gilded copper sculpture set a world auction record for Himalayan gilt-bronze art at Christie's Hong Kong.
A 12th-century Manjushri sculpture from Nepal sold for approximately Rs 166 crore at an auction in Hong Kong on October 30, 2026, according to the Times of India.
The 93cm gilded copper figure of the Bodhisattva of Transcendent Wisdom set a world auction record for Himalayan gilt-bronze art during the Awakening Wisdom sale at Christie's Hong Kong.
The sculpture was created by Newar artisans from the Kathmandu Valley and depicts Manjushri with the Prajnaparamita Sutra placed upon a flowering lotus at his shoulder.
The figure features elaborate jewellery, including necklaces, armlets, bracelets and a sacred thread, and is presented in a three-bend pose known as tribhanga.
The piece was part of the George Ortiz Collection in Geneva by 2002 and later passed through a private collection in New York and the Carlton Rochell Asian Art dealership in 2017.
Before the auction, the sculpture was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003 and the Zhiguan Museum of Fine Art in Beijing in 2018.