Page 122 - Bonhams IMages of Devotion, Hong Kong Nov 30 2022

1047
A SILVERED COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SEATED BUDDHA
SRI LANKA, KANDYAN PERIOD, 18TH CENTURY
26.5 cm (10.4 in.) high

HKD200,000 - 300,000
斯里蘭卡 康提時期 十八世紀 銅鎏銀佛陀像

After three hundred years of internecine civil conflict and successive waves
of European imperialists, the Kingdom of Kandy emerged as the pre-eminent
Sinhalese political authority. Under its stability and the avid patronage of its kings,
Sri Lanka witnessed a Buddhist revival with an unprecedented amount of building
and restoring of monastic institutions. Bronze Buddha images proliferated, most
of them either gilded or non-gilded depicting the sage in a standing pose. Fewer
portrayed the Buddha seated, like the present example, and fewer still had their
surface imbued with silver.

As tall as many standing images, this imposing figure’s prominent nose and eyelids
and rounded countenance draw a likeness to statues inside the main hall of Ridi
Viharaya (lit. ‘Silver Temple’) that likely served as models for the piece (c.f. Phoenix
Art Museum, Legacy of Kings, 2021, pp. 94-5 & 104). Ridi Viharaya is recorded
to have been a place for silver ore in ancient times. The temple was completed in
2nd century BCE, during the Early Anuradhapura period, and revived under the
patronage of King Kirti Sri Rajasinha (r.1747-82), whose rule marked the peak of
royal Kandyan Buddhist sponsorship. The rare application of silver to this bronze is
perhaps another nod to this important place of pilgrimage.

Two predominant forces inform the distinctive style of Kandyan Buddhist art. One
is the continuance of Sinhalese tradition in depicting Buddha with a broad body
type wrapped in a pleated robe, set by colossal statues of the Anuradhapura and
Polunnaruwa periods. The other is a South Indian tradition of expressing dynastic
identity through artistic patronage of religious objects, pursued with enthusiasm
by the Nayak princes, who were invited to assume Kandy’s throne after its last
Sinhalese king died without an heir in 1739. Such fusion is exemplified by the
present sculpture, whose massive shoulders and air of empyrean authority evoke
tradition, while the mesmerizing crinkles of the garment, abstracted physiognomy,
and enlarged flame finial summon Kandyan panache. A gilded example of
comparable scale was sold at Bonhams, Hong Kong, 29 March 2019, lot 45.

Published
Phoenix Art Museum, Legacy of Kings: Art of Sri Lanka, 2021, p. 119, fig. 1.

Provenance
Private Collection, US, by 1957
Thence by descent

120 | BONHAMS