Thousand-Armed Chenrezig

Eleven months of work by three artisans. The aureole arms are cast in sections and pinned individually, which is the only way to keep each palm clean, and the eleven faces were painted over three weeks by one man who does nothing else. Signed on the underside of the base by the workshop head.

Cast by the lost-wax method the Newar workshops of Patan have used for roughly a thousand years. The artisan models the figure in wax, encases it in a clay and rice-husk mould, fires the mould so the wax runs out, and pours molten metal into the void that is left. The mould is broken to release the casting, so no two pieces from it can ever be identical. Chasing, filing and detailing the face are then done entirely by hand — the slowest part of the work, and the part that decides whether a statue is any good.

Fire-gilding is a thin skin of pure gold over copper and it abrades easily. Dust only with a clean, dry cotton cloth, with no pressure. Never use polish, solvent, water or a gritty microfibre cloth. Keep out of direct sunlight and away from steady incense smoke, which dulls the surface over the years. Handle with cotton gloves or by the base — skin oils leave marks that set.