BRONZE BUDDHA.

THAILAND.

MON-DVARAVATI STYLE.

8TH - 9TH CENTURY.

H. 35 CMS, 13 ¾ INS.

A large and important bronze figure of a standing Buddha, both hands forming vitarka (teaching)-mudra, the robe covering both shoulders and falling from the wrist to follow the contours of the body down to a typical U-shaped hem, the undergarments visible beneath, with long earlobes, a narrow face, downcast eyes and lips forming a slight smile, the hair arranged in tight ‘snail-shell’ curls rising to a lotus-bud usnisha.

The Mon-Dvaravati kingdom, which flourished from the sixth through tenth centuries AD, was established when the Mons of Burma migrated south into Siam. They became ensconced in the river basins of Central Thailand – their main centres at Nakhon Pathom, Lopburi, U-Thong and Kubua - and ruled the area for four centuries. Mon-Dvaravati art finds its origins in the Gupta art of India; characterised by curled hair, full lips and a small waist. The Mon adaptation of the Gupta style incorporates both Hindu and (Theravada) Buddhist iconography.

The great 110 cm bronze Buddha in the National Museum, Bangkok, is similar to this example - see no. 15 in R. Ringis (ed.), Treasures from the National Museum, Bangkok, Bangkok: National Museum Volunteers Group, 1987. For another example see fig. 59 (cat. no. 9) in Hiram W. Woodward, The Sacred Sculpture of Thailand. The Alexander B. Griswold Collection, Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery, 1997.

Note: Authenticated by a metallographic analysis conducted by Conservation and Technical Services Ltd, London.

PROVENANCE: Private English Collection. Acquired at Rama Antiques, Bangkok in the mid-1980s (export seal attached). Previously offered at Spink and Son Ltd in 1995. Published as no. 59 in Spink Catalogue, Legacies of Ancient Civilisations: A Selection of Indian and Southeast Asian Works of Art, 1996.