 HEAD OF BUDDHA Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 13.BURMA.PAGAN PERIOD.12 - 13TH CENTURY.H. 12.5 CMS, 5 INS.A captivating pale sandstone Buddha head with a calm expression and half-open eyes cast downwards in meditation, with flaring eyebrows framing a small urna and a smooth tapering usnisha.A Tibetan-Burman race known as the Mranma established their capital at Pagan, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy in Burma’s dry zone. The founder of the Pagan dynasty, Anawrahta (r. 1044-1077), launched a series of military campaigns against Arakan in the west, the Shan in the east and the Mon kingdom to the south, thereby uniting Burma for the first time in its history. Anawrahta and his successors embraced the Theravada Buddhism of Sri Lanka and built approximately two thousand temples, stupas, monasteries, libraries and ordination halls - the largest concentration of monuments in the entire Buddhist world.The city fell to the Mongols in 1287 and political powerbecame dispersed among the Mon, Shan, Burmeseand Arakanese.The Payathonzu temple, Pagan (meaning "three pagodas") isa complex of three interconnected shrines built in the middle part of the 13th century, shortly before the Mongol invasions. For a seated Buddha from the Payathonzu temple, dated circa 1260 and closely related to this head, see p. 267 in D. Stadtner, Ancient Pagan: Buddhist Plain of Merit. Bankgok: River Books, 2005. For a second image, in the Pagan Museum, see fig. 279 in in M. Girard-Geslan et al, Art of Southeast Asia,New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc, 1998.PROVENANCE: Private English collection.
|  WOODEN TEMPLE STRUT ( TUNALA) Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 15.WOODEN TEMPLE STRUT (TUNALA).NEPAL. KATHMANDU VALLEY.EARLY MALLA PERIOD.13TH - 14TH CENTURY.H. 95 CMS, 37 ½ INS.W. 16.5 CMS, 6 ½ INS.A sensuous, exquisitely carved wooden temple strut (tunala) depicting a celestial female (devata)with long flowing hair and wearing extensive jewellery, dancing beneath a flowering tree on top of a hermit sage who sits clutching his beard.The Newar ethnic group of Nepal was responsible for many of the greatest masterpieces of Buddhist and Hindu art. The Malla Period (1200–1768), and in particular the Early Malla period of the 13th to 15th centuries, is regarded as the Newari ‘Golden Age’. During the Early Malla period a thriving trade with Tibet led to the establishment of a wealthy merchant class which became a major source ofpatronage for religious establishments. The wooden temples of the Kathmandu valley have roofs supported by cantilevered struts, typically carved with figures of beautiful celestial maidens standing on the backs of male dwarf figures.Female figures of this type are reminiscent of yakshis (nature spirits), the posture of this example recalling the Salabhanjika (‘tree fertilising’) pose found in ancient Indian sculpture. The devata grasps a branch, forcing nature to wake from dormancy and causing the tree to bloom.The Metropolitan Museum, New York city, has a closely related example - see the following link: http://tinyurl.com/ycg7jmjFor another example of similar date in the ArtGallery of New South Wales, see page 87 inOrientations, Sept. 2000.
|  HEAD OF BUDDHA Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 17.HEAD OF BUDDHA.THAILAND.AYUTTHAYA PERIOD, 16TH CENTURY.H. (INCL. FINIAL): 57 CMS, 22 ½ INS.H. (EXCL. FINIAL): 33 CMS, 13 INS.A large, superbly cast bronze head of Buddha Sakyamuni, the hair arranged in rows of snail-shell curls rising to a domed usnisha, the face smiling and serene and the eyes inlaid with mother of pearl and downcast in meditation beneath sweeping brows; extensive gilding across the surface.For more on the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, see cat. no. 14.For a similar head (in this instance, that of a crowned Buddha) see fig. 249 in Hiram W. Woodward, The Sacred Sculpture of Thailand. The Alexander B. Griswold Collection, Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery, 1997. Note: The finial is a later replacement.
|  SEATED MONK (PHRA MALAI) Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 18.SEATED MONK (PHRA MALAI).THAILAND.AYUTTHAYA PERIOD, 17TH CENTURY.H. 30 CMS, 12 INS. An enchanting gilded bronze figure of the venerable monk Phra Malai, seated in bhumisparsimudra with his left hand holding the remains of his monastic fan, his face with an intense spiritual gaze, wearing a thin sanghati with a narrow sash over the left shoulder. Phra Malai was a Buddhist monk who acquired special powers through meditation, enabling him to visit heaven and hell. He subsequently returned to earth and began to preach that our actions in life would lead to either future suffering or to happiness. For more on the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, see cat. no. 14.The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco has a late Ayutthaya period illustrated manuscript with scenes from the Phra Malai story – see cat. no. 80, p. 105 in F. McGill et al, The Kingdom of Siam: The Art of Central Thailand, San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2005.PROVENANCE: Private English collection.
|  BRONZE HANGING LAMP Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 2.BRONZE HANGING LAMP.NORTHERN VIETNAM.DONG SON CULTURE.1ST - 2ND CENTURY AD.H. 21.5 CMS, 8 ½ INS .L. 25.5 CMS, 10 INS.An exceptionally rare and important bronze lamp comprising a semi-naked human figure with arms outstretched and holding a straight sided bowl (the receptacle for the oil and wick), suspended by three chains from a domed cover surmounted by a phoenix, all supported by a single chain ending in an S shaped suspension hook.For more on the Dong Son culture see cat. no. 1.The two front chains that support this lamp are shorter than the rear one and, when suspended, the figure inclines downwards. This detail, together with the movement of the legs, suggests that the figure is depicted flying down from the after-world to rescue the human soul. Examples of such lamps are few and far between – two of the best-known are the celebrated kneeling lamp-bearer of Lach Truong (see no. 4, Page 18 in Phan Cam Thuong, Ancient Sculpture of Vietnam, Fine Arts Publishing House, 1997) and a strikingly similar, Han dynasty example found in Changsha, Hunan, China (see fig. 98 in Jonathan Tucker, The Silk Road: Art and History, London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2003). A third lamp was previously offered for sale at Spink and Son Ltd and is now in a private collection - see fig. 99 in Jonathan Tucker, ibid. This lamp is also illustrated as fig. 2 in Pratapaditya Pal, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Volume 3: Art from Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, 2004. The similarities between these lamps suggest that during the Chinese occupation of the area the process of cultural exchange was both continuous and widespread. PROVENANCE: Private English collection.
|  BRONZE SEATED BUDDHA Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 22.BRONZE SEATED BUDDHALAOS, 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.
|  STANDING BUDDHA Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 25.STANDING BUDDHATHAILAND.BANGKOK STYLE, RATANAKOSIN PERIOD.19TH CENTURY.H. (Overall) 158 CMS, 62 ½ INS.An elaborately cast gilded bronze figure of Buddha, standing on an octagonal stepped pedestal with both hands raised in abhayamudra (the gesture of ‘dispelling fear’), extensively jewelled and decorated with glass inlay, the earlobes long with upturned flourishes, the face meditative and serene beneath a removable tiered diadem terminating in a tapering finial.For a related example from the Bangkok National Museum see fig. 78 in Rita Ringis (ed.), Treasures from the National Museum, Bangkok, Bangkok: National Museum Volunteers Group, 1995. For a second example from the Prasart Museum, Bangkok, see page 181 in S. Van Beek and L. Tettoni, The Arts Of Thailand, Hong Kong: Periplus Editions, 2000. PROVENANCE: Private German collection. Purchased from Galerie L. Hartl Klassische Asiatika, Munich.
|  BUDDHA TORSO Current and Past Exhibitions
N0. 5.BUDDHA TORSO.NORTHERN INDIA.UTTAR PRADESH, SARNATH AREA.GUPTA PERIOD, CIRCA 5TH CENTURY.H. 140 CMS, 55 INS.A magnificent, life-size pale beige sandstone torso of Buddha, perfectly proportioned and standing in slight tribhanga with his left knee slightly forward, wearing a full-length sanghati clinging to the contours of his body, the right shoulder exposed, with a slightly swelling abdomen, the remains of the right arm apparently raised to form abhayamudra and the left lowered to hold the hem of his robe. This sculpture was probably once part of a relief. In his 1927 work History of Indian and Indonesian Art A.K. Coomaraswamy writes that Gupta art ‘establishes the classical phase of Indian art, at once serene and energetic, spiritual and voluptuous’. The Gupta style is elevated to a level of perfection at Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh; the site of the Buddha’s First Sermon. The characteristics of the Sarnath School of sculpture include the wearing of a diaphanous robe which accentuates the contours of the body, a softly swelling chest and abdomen and elongated lower limbs. The small number of figures that survive are typically carved in pale beige Chunar sandstone.For two, more complete examples in the Indian Museum, Calcutta see cat. nos. 203 and 205 in Klimburg-Salter, D. Buddha in Indien: Die frühindische Skulptur von König A??oka bis zur Guptazeit, Exhibition Catalogue, Milan and Vienna: Skira editore and Kunsthistorisches Museum, 1995 – no. 205 has the same sweep of the body. The Cleveland Museum of art has a fine torso of similar date and style – see fig. 72 in R. Craven, Indian Art: A Concise History,London: Thames and Hudson, 1976. The Musée Guimet, Paris has another example – see cat. no. 31 in Amina Okoda, Sculptures Indiennes du Musée Guimet, Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2000.PROVENANCE: Private English collection.
|  STELE DEPICTING A SEATED BUDDHA Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 6.NORTHERN INDIA.UTTAR PRADESH.FROM THE VICINTY OF KAUSHAMBI.POST-GUPTA PERIOD.CIRCA 8TH CENTURYH. 77 CMS, 30 ¼ INS.W. 40 CMS, 15 ¾ INS.An important buff sandstone stele depicting the Buddha seated on a raised throne decorated with a vajra, his right hand lowered in bhumisparsimudra and the left holding a fold of his robe, the throne with a pair of praying female acolytes to the sides and two lions flanking an apsara with hand raised to make an offering; the periphery of the stele with leogryphs, makaras and surmounted by a pair of seated bodhisattvas, garland bearers, two further praying acolytes and a further Buddha reposed in parinirvana. Kaushambi was one of the six most prosperous Indian cities in the Buddha's period and was visited by him in the 6th and9th years after having attained enlightenment. During bothvisits he delivered sermons, thereby making it a centre oflearning for Buddhists.There are few examples of Buddhas from this area and period. In some instances, contemporary sculptures of Jaintirthankaras have been modified to be Buddhas by removing the auspicious srivasta mark on the chest but there is noevidence that this has been done here.There is also no sign that the parinirvana Buddha at the apex has been adapted from the parasol often found adorning Jain figures. For two related, though slightly later images of Jain tirthankaras from Uttar Pradesh with similar iconography, please see cat. no. 23 in P. Pal, Jain Art from India: The Peaceful Liberators, New York: Thames and Hudson, 1994 and pl. 132 in John Guy, Indian Temple sculpture, London: V&A Publications, 2007.The Khajuraho Museum has a rare, late example of a seated Buddha – see fig. 252 in M. Bussagli, 5000 Years of the Art of India, New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1971.
|  BRONZE BUDDHA Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 7.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.
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