Statue of a bodhisattva (Manjushrí?)

This is a bodhisattva (Manjushrí) depicted as a young boy, seated on a round lotus base, resting his arms on his raised right knee. His youthfulness is indicated by such iconographic elements as the horizontal crescent moon visible behind the back of his neck (a feature unique to Java), the cords forming a cross on his chest, and the triple braid is his hair. The rounded face, the squat, arching shapes, the harmonius composition, the representation of nonmaterial existence through the idealised proportions of the body and the transcendental smile of the deity, are distinctive characteristics of the purely Javanese style of bronzework that flourished in Central Java.