Fine, Thai Bronze Seated Buddha

This fine, good-sized bronze image shows the Buddha seated in virasana on a high dais with the right hand in bhumisparsha mudra. The left hand rests upwards on his lap.

The face is meditative; the lips are pursed; the long, arched eyebrows are in relief; and the ears are elongated in the manner of a prince who has worn heavy (and thus costly) earrings. The lips and chin are delicately engraved with fine lines to denote them.

The Buddha wears a sanghati or robes of a monk. The hair is in tight curls and a tall, plain usnisha rises from the top of the domed head. Unusually, the usnisha is in the form of a spike rather than a flame.

Perhaps the image that is most like the example here is one illustrated in Woodward (1997, p. 190) attributed to 14th-15th century central Thailand.

The image has a fine, dark patina, and is in excellent condition.