G742.2 (ST502) HIGH-SILVER SEATED BUDDHA

BURMA, MANDALAY PERIOD

LATE 18^TH – EARLY 19^TH CENTURY

H. 61 CMS, 24 INS; W. 51 CMS, 20 INS

An outstanding large silver figure of Buddha, seated in vajrasana on a stepped pedestal, his right hand in bhumisparsimudra (the gesture of ‘summoning the earth to witness’) and his left resting in his lap in dhyanamudra; the face oval and framed by a plain band below the hairline, with an intense spiritual gaze, the mouth set in a gentle smile, wearing a sanghati with multiple pleats; the hair with extensive traces of gilding.

The exemplary workmanship of this Buddha and the use of silver instead of bronze suggest that it may have been made by the craftsmen of the royal household.

For a comparable marble image in the Victoria and Albert Museum, see no. 8 in J. Lowry, Burmese Art, London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1974. For a similar figure in lacquered wood see no. 71 in in Otto Karow, Burmese Buddhist Sculpture: The Johan Möger Collection, Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2003.

Provenance: Private American collection. Originally acquired from Charlotte Horstmann – Gerald Godfrey Ltd, Hong Kong.

Previously sold by us in 2010.