G751 A MONUMENTAL BRONZE SEATED BUDDHA WITH ATTENDANTS

BURMA, AVA PERIOD

CIRCA 17^TH CENTURY

H. 47 CMS, 18 ½ INS

A monumental bronze figure of Buddha seated upon a high pedestal, with his right hand lowered in bhumisparsimudra (the gesture of summoning the earth to witness) and the left resting in his lap, the face youthful and serene beneath arched brows and a conical usnisha ascending to a lotus knop; the lower section of the dais decorated with flowing scrollwork and the upper with two praying acolytes.

References: See P.48, page 131 in S. Lopetcharat, Myanmar Buddha: The Image and Its History, Bangkok:  Siam International Books Co., 2007.   For a pedestal with similar scrollwork, see P.69, page 139 (ibid).

For more on Ava period bronzes, including a similar Buddha, please see Sylvia Fraser-Lu, Buddha Images from Burma, Part II: Bronze and Related Metals, Arts of Asia, March 1981.

Provenance: Private Belgian collection