Page 61 - Indian and Himilayan Art

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A BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA
THAILAND, MON-DVARAVATI PERIOD,
8TH/9TH CENTURY

21º in. (54.6 cm.) high

$30,000-50,000

PROVENANCE:

Acquired by the family of the present owner
on 24 January 1968; thence by descent.

Bronze fgures of Buddha from this period
are very rare, and this one even more so due
to its large size. Compare with a partially
intact eighth-century fgure of Buddha,
now at the National Museum of Cambodia,
Phnom Penh (Ga5412, see H.Jessup and
T.Zéphir, Millennium of Glory, Washington,
1997, pp.150-1, fg.5). Both wear the heavy
uttarasanga over one arm, leaving the right
shoulder bare. The garment models the
body similarly in both examples, the hem
undulating slightly around the pectoral
muscles, and closely sheathing the body to
reveal the fesh of the belly below rounding
out slightly above the dhoti. Jean Boisselier
has hypothesized that the drapery fowing
around the wrist is a chronological marker,
dating the present work no earlier than the
eighth century.

Another closely related fgure in silver alloy,
now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(see J. Guy, Lost Kingdoms, New Haven,
2014, p.210, cat.120), is nearly as complete
as the present example, missing only
the left foot. Both fgures have similarly
rendered hems on their garments, and
identical gestures, though reversed. They
also have the markedly arched eyebrows
and the high, pointed ushnishas that are
characteristic of Mon-Dvaravati Buddha
images from this period.

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