ST1056 GILDED WOOD BUDDHA


Sculpture

ST1056 GILDED WOOD BUDDHA

BURMA, TAI YAI (SHAN STATES)

18TH -19TH CENTURY

H. 53 CMS, 21 INS

A large gilded wood Buddha seated in bhumisparsimudra (earth-touching mudra) on a tiered pedestal, his face with a tranquil expression, a conical usnisha rising to a lotus bud finial, the reverse with a votive recess.

Price: £1,650=GBP

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 (earth-touching mudra), standing with hands raised or by his side, and lying on his right side in the parinirvana position.

For a closely related wood example, cat. no. P.327. p. 389 in S. Lopetcharat, Myanmar Buddha: The Image and Its History, Bangkok: Siam International Books Co. Ltd, 2007.

For more on wood and lacquer Buddhas from this period, see Sylvia Fraser-Lu, Buddha Images from Burma, Part III: Wood and Lacquer, Arts of Asia, May-June 1981 or see the following link:

https://www.lasieexotique.com/page/LasieExotique-mag_buddha_III.html

Provenance: Private collection, southwest England.