Catalogue no. 14 LARGE BRONZE BUDDHA

BURMA, TAI YAI (SHAN STATES)

18^TH CENTURY

H. 45 CMS, 17 ½ INS

A large and imposing bronze Buddha seated in bhumisparsimudra (earth-touching mudra) on a tiered pedestal, his face with a tranquil expression, with long earlobes and a conical usnisha rising to a lotus bud finial.

Burmese Buddha images of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were made of bronze, wood, alabaster, dry lacquer and papier-mâché and are found in one of three positions: seated cross legged in bhumisparsimudra, standing with hands raised or by his side, and lying on his right side in the parinirvana position.

For a group of related bronze examples, see cat. no. P.286, p. 353 in S. Lopetcharat, Myanmar Buddha: The Image and Its History, Bangkok: Siam International Books Co. Ltd, 2007. For more on bronze and other metal Buddhas from this period, see Sylvia Fraser-Lu, Buddha Images from Burma, Part II: Bronze and Related Metals, Arts of Asia, March-April 1981 or see the following link: https://www.lasieexotique.com/page/LasieExotique-mag_buddha_II.html

Provenance: Private North German collection.

Acquired from Günter Venzke Asian Art, Berlin in the late 1970s.