Name this Buddhist statue.

Factual Questions
1

I bought a lovely garden statue of a Buddha or Bodhisattva for a friend for her birthday.

Sorry, I don’t have a picture as I’ve already gifted it. Poor planning, I know.

But I never imagined I would have such difficulty discovering it’s identity.

Being a Buddhist myself, and having done this sort of thing before, I assumed it would be a snap, as it has been previously.

But no, I spent the whole afternoon yesterday surfing around trying to find a similar image so I could say definitively who it was.

When I purchased it I was pretty sure it was Chenrezig. Now I’m not sure of anything.

Let me describe it to you. It appears female but that may just be the iconography. Seated in meditation, with both hands in the lap, holding an orb, perfectly round, unlike a bowl or a lotus flower. Sitting on a lotus throne. Tiara with shawl sort of headress. I’m very sorry I don’t have a picture for you. I can only hope my description helps.

Not to say I didn’t have an interesting afternoon surfing around the on line Buddhist world, lots of fun, just no closer to an answer.

Any help you can offer me would be greatly appreciated.

(I am going to try to get a snap shot of it but it’s hard for me to get out of the house.)

2

This is why I think there should be a Field Guide to the Buddhas. No offense meant, but identifying Buddhas (and Lohans, Guardian Spirits, etc.) from their attributes can be a pain. (The same goes for Christian Saints. It’s not theology, but iconography).

The book you need is Alice Getty’s The Gods of Northern Buddhism, published in paperback by Dover. Despite the title, it lists the attributes of the various depictions of figures from Buddhism, with lotsa pictures. I’d help you, but I don’t have a copy here with me.

3

Did it look anything like this: http://www.manimalas.com/catalog/qyshadowbox2.jpg?