THAILAND.

AYUTTHAYA PERIOD.

17TH CENTURY.

H. 87.5 CMS, 34 1/2 INS.

A slender, elegant bronze figure of Buddha, standing with his feet slightly apart on a tiered pedestal inlaid with glass, his right hand raised in abhayamudra and the left pendant by his side, the face placid and smiling beneath a domed chignon rising to a tall flame finial; the sanghati with a broad belt and a central fold between the legs, covering both shoulders and descending to points at the hem, the image covered throughout by a thick layer of gilding.

This captivating figure was created during the period of Thailand’s Ayutthaya Kingdom. The kingdom of Ayutthaya, established by King U Thong in 1350 in the Chao Phraya River basin to the north of Bangkok was, until the Burmese attacked and burned its capital in 1767, one of the richest and most enduring sovereignties of Southeast Asia, attracting innumerable merchants and other visitors, not only from neighbouring Asian countries but also from Europe as well.

This image is covered with multiple layers of gold leaf, a practice that still continues during worship in Thai temples. The pedestal on which it stands is contemporary with the piece and is firmly attached to the figure. Elaborate pedestals of this type are often mistakenly attributed to the 19th century Ratanakosin period - in fact they first appear in the 17th century: see cat. no. 48 in F. McGill et al, The Kingdom of Siam: The Art of Central Thailand, San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2005. The Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg has a similar figure – see no. 48 in State Hermitage Museum, Siamese Art of the 14th-19th centuries in the Hermitage, St Petersburg, 1997.