Page 76 - 2020 September 23 Himalyan and Southeast Asian Works of Art Bonhams

638 W
A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF AN ARHAT
THAILAND, AYUTTHAYA PERIOD, 16TH/17TH CENTURY
With traces of black lacquer in recessed areas.
32 1/2 in. (83 cm) high
$50,000 - 70,000

泰國 大城時期 十六/十七世紀 羅漢銅像

This rare bronze sculpture of an arhat depicts the monk seated in meditation with his right
hand extending towards the ground to call on the Earth to bear witness to his enlightenment.
An arhat in Theravada Buddhism, which predominates throughout Southeast Asia, represents
the spiritual paradigm for ordinary beings to emulate. The highest spiritual goal for followers of
Theravada Buddhism is to perfect Shakyamuni’s teachings over many lifetimes, which results in
becoming an arhat: an enlightened being freed from the cycle of rebirth (parinirvana).

Painting and sculpture of arhats frequent Thai temples. Their depiction largely imitates Buddha
images, though without possessing certain key physical characteristics (lakshana) that
distinguish Buddha as a supranatural being. As represented in this sculpture, these are the
absence of Buddha’s elongated earlobes and his ushnisha (a cranial protuberance), which has
been exchanged for a monastic tonsure. Additionally, the orientation of the arhat’s left hand
is different from the Buddha’s. Rather than the back of the hand resting in his lap, it is turned
frontally toward the viewer and would have supported a separately made eye screen (that
would look like a long-handled fan), which is a meditative aid for blocking visual distractions.

Stylistically, the arhat’s relatively slender face with low arched brows and pointed chin, the
simple elegance of the plain robe hugging his proportions, and the sculpture’s brassy metallic
composition are typical features of Ayutthaya sculpture between the 16th and 17th centuries.
Compare the facial type with a 16th-century Crowned Buddha in the Walters Art Gallery,
Baltimore (Woodward, The Sacred Sculpture of Thailand, Baltimore, 1997, p.251, no.248).
Very few Thai sculptures of arhats are published. See a 19th-century example formerly from the
Collection of Doris Duke, published in Tingley, Doris Duke: The Southeast Asian Art Collection,
New York, 2003, p.33, pl.10.

Provenance
Christie’s, Amsterdam, 19 November 1991, lot 22

74 | BONHAMS