G761 AN ALABASTER RECLINING BUDDHA


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G761 AN ALABASTER RECLINING BUDDHA                                                              

BURMA

MANDALAY PERIOD

19TH CENTURY

L. 56 CMS, 22 INS

An elegant alabaster figure of the Buddha, reclining in parinirvana, the face smiling and serene, his right side supported by a pillow, his right arm supporting his head and his left in a relaxed posture along his side, the surface with traces of old patination.

The subject matter of this image is the passage of the Buddha into Nirvana. He lies down on a royal couch in the sala grove of the Malla kings beside the Hirannavati River. Surrounded by his faithful monks he utters his final words: “Everything is subject to change; strive on without delay”, and at dawn on the following day passed into the great Nirvana.

For a group of related parinirvana Buddhas in bronze, wood and alabaster, see P. 143 – P. 144 and P. 163 – P. 165 in Somkiart Lopetcharat, Myanmar Buddha: The Image and Its History, Bangkok:  Siam International Books Co., 2007.

Provenance: Private English collection.

By inheritance from Margaret Kennedy (23 April 1896 – 31 July 1967), a renowned English novelist and playwright. Her most successful work, as a novel and as a play, was The Constant Nymph (1924).