A VERY FINE GILT BRONZE STATUE, OF A BUDDHA

This very fine Chinese Ming Dynasty gilt bronze depicts Shakyamuni Buddha, the Enlightened One, sitting solemnly in a style combining traditional Chinese Buddhist style with Tibetan style, which was popular during Ming. The Sage of the Shakyamuni Clan sits formally and crosses his legs, with eyes gaze forward and the hair in “snail-curls” piled on a high bun, with a single gold crown/bead adorning his head. His earlobes are long. His right arm and the hand extend across the knee in the earth touching mudra. The left arm performs the mudra of meditation with palm upward in the lap. His robe covering his body from left to right. A lower garment is tied at the waist. The most unusual characteristics of this statue are: (1) his gown and the throne are covered all over with dozens of meticulously sculpture human figures, vividly depicting the life of the Buddha in great detail, including his death while lying under the Buddhist tree; many animals, including elephant, and the 8-auspicious Buddhist symbols; (2) the lotus throne consisting upward and downward rows of lotus petals, with each petal having elaborate branch-like decoration; (3) the base cover-plate is welded to the main body without an open seam; (4) the statue is extremely heavy, even though, striking the base cover-plate yields a resonance indicating the statue is hollow without a filling material; thus the statue must have very thick walls. (5) the front base wall has 2 words engraved on it, reading from left to right “Tai He” (Great Harmony). Traditionally, Chinese language is written from right to the left but during Ming, some imperial Buddhist statues have marks written from left to right; these were made as gifts to high ranking Tibetan monks or rulers, or were designed or made by Tibetan artists. (Tibetan language is written from left to right.) Tai He refers to the palace of Tai He(???), the largest palace in the Forbidden City. These 2 words indicate that this statue was once belonged to the Palace. From Dr. Robert I-San Lin (#5835), a senior Chinese artwork appraiser, whose grandfather was a major Chinese antique dealer in early 1900s. (Dr. Lin’s bio, in Journal of Authentication of Artworks, 2015, is available on request). 43 x 35 x 23.4 cm; 12834 g (extremely heavy)