G742.3 (ST497) WOODEN FIGURE OF A STANDING BUDDHA

SRI LANKA, KANDYAN PERIOD

MID-18^TH CENTURY

H. 55.5 CMS, 21 ¾ INS

A slender, elegant carved and painted sandalwood figure of Buddha, standing on a waisted pedestal lavishly decorated with floral motifs, his right hand raised in vitarka (teaching)–mudra and his left holding the edge of his robe, the face tranquil and smiling beneath deeply arched brows and a rounded chignon rising to a tall flame finial; his ankle length sanghati covering one shoulder and modelled with undulating folds, a long narrow sash extending to his navel.

The town of Kandy, situated in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka, was an important capital for the Sinhalese kings and was also a centre for Buddhism. Kandy’s Temple of the Tooth houses one of the Buddha’s most revered relics. Sri Lankan sculpture is rare, especially when it is sculpted in friable materials like wood, which often falls victim to humidity or to insects.

For a group of related sandalwood images see plate 160, page 511 in Ulrich Von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures of Sri Lanka, Visual Dharma Publications Ltd., Hong Kong, 1990

For a closely related ivory example in the Norton Simon Museum, see Buddha » Norton Simon Museum

Provenance: Private American collection.

Previously sold by us in 2010.