A RARE CHINESE GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF MAITREYA

18TH CENTURY

Seated with his knees slightly apart on a rectangular plinth, with jewelled adornments and an elaborate headdress, his hands raised before him, his feet resting on a support projecting at the front of the base, inscribed with three characters which read mei de li, 17cm.

Provenance: from the collection of Frederick H Jewell (1836-1906), who served as an orderly on HMS Actaeon during the second Opium War, and thence by descent.