BURMA, SHAN STATES.

19TH CENTURY.

H. 53.5 CMS, 21 INS.

A lacquered and gilded carved wood figure of Buddha, seated on a tall, waisted pedestal, with his right hand lowered in bhumisparsimudra (the gesture of summoning the earth to witness), the face meditative and serene beneath deeply arched brows and a stepped chignon rising to a lotus-bud finial; the sanghati covering one shoulder with a broad sash extending to the waist.

For a related example in bronze, see no. 65 in Otto Karow, Burmese Buddhist Sculpture: The Johan Möger Collection, Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2003.

Provenance: From the estate of an English private collector.