Footnotes

泰國 拉達納哥信王國第一時期/曼谷王朝 1782-1851年 銅鎏金漆器佛坐像

Provenance:
Private Collection, UK

Literature:
See a comparable example of a Standing Buddha at the Walters Art Museum acc. no. 54.3000, as well as a seated example depicting maravijaya (Victory over Mara) acc. no. 54.2987. A similar example was hammered for a record price at Bonhams HK Ritual + Culture 2018, Lot 46 for HK$ 625,000 (inc. premium).


Clad in royal attire with extensive adornments, reflecting the fashion of the Thai royal court, the Buddha sits in virasana (heroic posture) on a four-tiered pedestal. One hand folds over another, in the samadhimudra or dhyanamudra (gesture of meditation). With an introspective expression highlighted by downward gazing eyes inlaid with glass and mother of pearl, the Buddha sits, in intense meditation. The full lips, an aquiline nose, a decidedly oval face and the rendition of the hair in the form of a headdress covered with tightly coiled curls, leading to an elongated ushnisha - these details are typical of Thai statuary during the Rattanakosin First Period.

The arts of the First Period followed the sculptural traditions of Ayutthaya. The artists, however, often tried to surpass each other in their treatment of gilding, ornamentation, and form. In Southeast Asia, crowned and bejewelled Buddhas such as this example may allude to the story of the arrogant king Jambupati, in which the Buddha takes on the form of the magnificent Rājadhirāja, the Supreme King of Kings. At first arrogant and defiant, Jampupati finally reveres and prostrates himself before the all-forgiving, compassionate power of the Buddha (Griswold, A. B. 'Notes on the Art of Siam, no. 5. The Conversion of Jambupati' in Artibus Asiae Vol. 24, No. ¾, 1961, p. 295-298).