Earth Witnessing Bronze Buddha, Thailand (11246BKE)

Description

A wood or metalwork Buddha-statue or painting is called a Buddharupa, in Sanskrit meaning “the form of an Enlightened One.” Made in Thailand, this Buddha exhibits traditional characteristics of Theravada Buddhist-statues and is rendered in Lopburi style which was predominant in the central, east and northeast Thailand during the seventh to thirteenth century CE.  This very decorative and lyrical style is still popular in Buddha images today. This metalwork Shakyamuni Buddha is seated in Earth Witnessing bhumisparsa mudra with his legs in padmasana with bare upward soles exposed and his left hand in the lap (dhyana mudra) and the right reaching over his knee with his elegantly elongated arm and fingers and touch the earth to call witness to his resisting the temptations of demon Mara and reaching Enlightenment. This very tranquil and serene pose shows his inner strength and confidence at the very moment of his Enlightenment. His downcast eyes and half-closed lids under eyebrows that meet at the top of the nose emphasize his spiritual power, and the corpulent cheeks on his enlarged head seem to be purposely a tad out of proportion as a way to express the gravity of the event he is experiencing as well as his material power. Some of the lakshanas, the auspicious traits of the Buddha as a unique and great man or ideal and benevolent ruler (Pali: chakravartin) are displayed in the image: his upright body, well-formed nose; fine hair with snail-crowned head with circular soft  curls, elongated body and face, his long arms, fingers of equal length, soft skin, well-rounded shoulders and a prominent ushnisha (cranial protuberance) atop his head surmounted in Thai style by a lotus bud finial. He is also presented with the three traditional rings at the neck indicating the three states of existence and large curved pendulous ears seen as auspicious and symbolize wisdom and compassion. He wears the simple monks robes of a conservative Theravada Buddhist monk with one shoulder bare and the “wet” drapery clinging to the body revealing the shape of his body underneath. He sits upright on a highly decorative pierced throne and the statue’s composition is in the form of a double triangle: the three footed throne itself is a horizontal triangle as it recedes backwards in space, and the Buddha and the throne on which he sits form a vertical triangle. His head is crowned with an lotus bulb-like ushnisha.