Footnotes

大日如來銅像
爪哇 印度尼西亞 約十世紀

This fine bronze of the Buddha Vairocana, one of the central deities in esoteric Buddhism, is cast with the slender proportions and angular features of the c.10th-century Javanese style, with exceptionally crisp detailing. Vairocana is seated upright in the lotus position, with his hands held in front of his chest in the bodhyangi mudra, the mudra of supreme wisdom. He wears a pointed crown ornate with jewels that decorate his tall coiffure of coiled, neatly arranged locks. A lower garment patterned with intricate floral motifs is tied with two thin sashes around his waist that meander over his legs and feet onto the front of the base.

The work's style and composition are evidently inspired by the art of the contemporaneous Pala kingdom of Northeastern India, to which are added distinct local adaptations. For example, the wide lotus petals with pointed tips, and their staggered arrangement between top and bottom layers, copy those of 9th-century Pala bronzes. See two bronzes of Avalokiteshvara and Tara from Nalanda monastery in Roy, Eastern Indian Bronzes, New Delhi, 1986, nos.110a & 124. Meanwhile, Javanese idioms include the openwork criss-cross design around the rectangular base and the chased hexagonal pattern on top of the lotus pedestal, suggesting the lotus seeds.

Buddhism in Java did not evolve as a mere extension of Indian Buddhism but developed into another prominent international center for Buddhist scholarship, with the highly esteemed monument of Borobudur at its core. The continuous links between Java and religious centers in India, particularly with Nalanda monastery, are well documented, and important historic figures such as Yijing, the famous 7th-century Chinese traveller, and Atisha, the renowned 11th-century Bengali pandit, spent significant time studying in Java. Compare the present figure to a Mahavairocana and Prajnaparamita group, and a figure of Vajrasattva published in Huntington & Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi tree, Dayton, 1990, figs.84 & 85.

Provenance
Ex-Private English Collection