Page 68 - Maitri CollectionAsian Art Bonhams

3218
A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF BUDDHA
THAILAND, SUKHOTHAI PERIOD, CIRCA 14TH CENTURY
23 1/4 in. (59.1 cm) high

$40,000 - 60,000
泰國 素可泰時期 約十四世紀 銅佛坐像

Translated as ‘Dawn of Happiness’, the Sukhothai kingdom’s reign lasted for 200 years.
Regarded by the Thai as a golden age, its Buddha images are among the most lauded in
Thai art history.

In 1219, the death of the last great Khmer emperor Jayavarman VII left a power vacuum
in the Northern Thai provinces that local Thai chieftains took advantage of to assert
their independence. In throwing off the yoke of Khmer, the Sukhothai rulers rejected a
continuation of the Khmer stylistic tradition for their Buddha images, instead favoring the
development of their own uniquely Thai aesthetic in line with their northern brethren in
the Lan Na kingdom (Krairiksh,The Sacred Image, Koln, 1979, p.47). With the assistance
of Singhalese Theravadan monks, they applied literal adherence to textual prescriptions
within Pali texts on how to make images of the Buddha. Their efforts yielded a beautiful
Thai image informed by poetry rather than naturalism.

According to these poetic similes of Buddha’s signs of greatness (mahalakshanas), he
has a nose like ‘a parrot’s beak’, a chin like ‘a mango stone’, his arms are long and
sinuous, ‘like the trunk of a young elephant’, and his elegant hands are ‘like a lotus bud
opening’, etc. The Volunteer Group of the National Museum of Bangkok provides an
excellent description of the classic Sukhothai style which the present example adheres
to:

“Characteristically, classic Sukhothai images are seated on a plain base, with the right
hand placed near the knee, performing the gesture...representing the moment of
Enlightenment. Soaring above the ushnisha...[is] the Thai flame, symbolizing the Buddha’s
radiant spiritual energy. The hair-line forms a delicate V-shape at the top of the brow. This
shape is echoed by the curved sweep of the arched eyebrows which join at the bridge
of a substantial almost hooked nose...The robe, with its characteristic ‘fishtail’ notch at
the navel, appears diaphanous, being outlined by ridges at the breast, ankles and wrist...
Typically, the legs are not crossed but folded gently, contributing to the grace of the
image.”
(National Museum Volunteers Group, Treasures from the National Museum, Bangkok,
2010, p.35.)

It is difficult to find a Buddha that so closely reflects the Classic Sukhothai style; more
often faced with slight variations on facial features or blends of styles with neighboring
Lan Na or Kamphaeng Phet. But the Maitri example compares very closely to the Classic
Sukhothai masterpiece held in the Ramkhamhaeng National Museum, Sukhothai, and an
oft-published red-lacquered and gilded bronze in the National Museum, Bangkok (see
Stratton, Buddhist Sculptures of Northern Thailand, Bangkok, 2004, p.165, fig.7.8; and
op. cit., p.35, no.54; respectively). Of special fidelity to the latter, note the four-layered
flame ushnisha, and the high relief of thick ‘snail shell’ hair curling around with pleasing
symmetry from a central vertical line. Projecting an air of quiet yet insurmountable
authority, the Maitri Sukhothai Buddha survives with an alluring variegated patina of
reddish brown to piquant green.

Provenance
Distinguished Private American Collection, assembled in the 1970s
Private Swiss Collection, by 2007
Bonhams, London, 2 October 2012, lot 213

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