BRONZE SEATED BUDDHA

LAOS, 17TH – 18TH CENTURY.

H. (excluding flame finial) 112 CMS, 44 INS.

A large, elegant bronze figure of the Buddha, seated in virasana on a tiered pedestal with upturned corners, his right hand in bhumisparsimudra (the gesture of ‘summoning the earth to witness’) and his left resting in his lap in dhyanamudra; the face smiling and serene beneath a conical usnisha, wearing a sanghati with a serrated motif on the hem, a broad shoulder flap extending down to the navel.

The Lao kingdom of Lan Xang, or Lan Chang was established in 1354 by Prince Fa Ngum (1316-1393), who spent his childhood years at the Khmer capital of Angkor. Under his rule the kingdom became powerful and wealthy and extended to cover the northeast region of present-day Thailand. By the 17th century Lan Xang entered a period of decline marked by dynastic struggles and conflicts with its neighbours, and control was eventually lost to Siam. In 1707 it was divided into two principalities centred on Luang Prabang in the north and Vientiane to the south. Theravada Buddhism is the country’s predominant religion.

The pedestal on which the figure sits, with its upturned edges, represents an open lotus. The absence of lotus petals on the pedestal indicates a 17th or 18th century date. For two comparable examples, please see pages 198 and 205 in S. Lopetcharat, Lao Buddha: The Image and Its History, Bangkok: Siam International Book Company, 2000.