A GILT-BRONZE REPOUSSE FIGURE OF USHNISHAVIJAYAMONGOLIA, DOLONNOR, LATE 18TH CENTURY71⁄8 in. (18.1 cm.) highDetails71⁄8 in. (18.1 cm.) highProvenancePrivate collection, New York, 1970s-1990s, by repute.Literature‌Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24836.Ushnishavijaya and her iconography are entirely drawn from the Tibetan pantheon; however, stylistic elements of the present work, such as the tall crown, the partial gilt, and the polychromed bronze, closely associate it with the region of Dolonnor of present day Inner Mongolia. The Dolonnor workshops were known for producing fine repousse figures and objects for Mongolian, Chinese, Manchu and Tibetan patrons. During the Qing period, the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong Emperors patronized Dolonnor as a center of Buddhist learning and artistic production. The site was purposefully built not far from Shangdu (Xanadu), the old thirteenth-century summer capital of Kublai Khan. The Mongolian lama, master artist, and leader of the Khalka Mongols, Zanabazar, formally assimilated his khanate into the Qing Empire before the Kangxi Emperor at Dolonnor in 1691. It continued to be an important bronze image foundry even into the late nineteenth century, as noted by the Russian explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky on one of his expeditions to Mongolia in the 1870s (N. Przhevalsky, Mongolia, London, 1876, p. 105).The three-faced, eight-armed Ushnishavijaya is a goddess of longevity and is associated with the fulfillment of earthly desires. She has three faces with fierce, serene, and benign expressions, said to carry the attributes of three goddesses. Here, she is seated in a meditative pose with both legs folded and the soles of her feet visible. Her six hands are held in various gestures, and she carries a double vajra, a small figure of Amitabha, and a longevity vase among others, though, they are now missing. The iconography of the present work can be compared with another Ushnishavijaya sold at Christie’s New York, 21 September 2007, lot 149. Compare the repoussé technique and the high lotus base with a figure of Shakyamuni Buddha sold at Christie’s New York, 14-28 September 2021, lot 66. ---