Gilt Bronze Buddha Shakyamuni
S O L D
Gilt Bronze Buddha Shakyamuni, seated in vajrasana on a circular plinth above a gilt-bronze lotus throne with his right hand lowered in bhumisparshamudra while the left rests on his lap, clad in various monk’s garments, including inner-garment secured with a belt knotted to the front and a wide-sleeved mantle, its borders incised with scrolling flowers, his chest cast with the swastika emblem, his face displaying a serene expression with downcast eyes below arched eyebrows that run into his nose-bridge, urna at his forehead, smiling, lips, blue coloured curled hair and low cranial protuberance set with a ratna.
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI SEATED ON A GILT-LOTUS THRONE
China, Ming dynasty
Height: 33 cm.
Provenance: Collection Dr. Wilhelm Munich, acquired in the 1960s at Bernheimer, Munich by repute
Expert’s Note: This magnificent large gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni is superbly cast, notable for the softly rendered facial features and elegant drapery that hints at the body underneath. The Buddha seated in vajrasana on a circular plinth above a gilt-bronze lotus throne with his right hand lowered in bhumisparshamudra while the left rests on his lap. The deity is cast here in a sinicized style, evident through the rounded fleshy face, clad in various monk’s garments, including inner-garment secured with a belt knotted to the front and a wide-sleeved mantle, its borders incised with scrolling flowers, his chest cast with the swastika emblem, his face displaying a serene expression with downcast eyes below arched eyebrows that run into his nose-bridge, urna at his forehead, smiling, lips, blue coloured curled hair and low cranial protuberance set with a ratna. This form of representation developed in the mid to late Ming dynasty and continued into the early Qing, before gilt-bronzes generally adopted a more Tibeto-Chinese manner.
– Base with short old cracks on the stand, the figure with minor wear to gilding, the left thumb old replaced, remains of lapis lazu
-Siddhārtha Gautama and Buddha Shakyamuni
According to Donald Lopez Jr., “… he tended to be known as either Buddha or Sakyamuni in China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet, and as either Gotama Buddha or Samana Gotama (‘the ascetic Gotama’) in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.”[15]
Buddha, “Awakened One” or “Enlightened One”,[10][16][f] is the masculine form of budh (बुध् ), “to wake, be awake, observe, heed, attend, learn, become aware of, to know, be conscious again”,[17] “to awaken”[18][19] “‘to open up’ (as does a flower)”,[19] “one who has awakened from the deep sleep of ignorance and opened his consciousness to encompass all objects of knowledge”.[19] It is not a personal name, but a title for those who have attained bodhi (awakening, enlightenment).[18] Buddhi, the power to “form and retain concepts, reason, discern, judge, comprehend, understand”,[17] is the faculty which discerns truth (satya) from falsehood.
The name of his clan was Gautama (Pali: Gotama). His given name, “Siddhārtha” (the Sanskrit form; the Pali rendering is “Siddhattha”; in Tibetan it is “Don grub”; in Chinese “Xidaduo”; in Japanese “Shiddatta/Shittatta”; in Korean “Siltalta”) means “He Who Achieves His Goal”.[20] The clan name of Gautama means “descendant of Gotama”, “Gotama” meaning “one who has the most light”,[21] and comes from the fact that Kshatriya clans adopted the names of their house priests.[22][23]
While the term “Buddha” is used in the Agamas and the Pali Canon, the oldest surviving written records of the term “Buddha” is from the middle of the 3rd century BCE, when several Edicts of Ashoka (reigned c. 269–232 BCE) mention the Buddha and Buddhism.[24][25] Ashoka’s Lumbini pillar inscription commemorates the Emperor’s pilgrimage to Lumbini as the Buddha’s birthplace, calling him the Buddha Shakyamuni[j] (Brahmi script: 𑀩𑀼𑀥 𑀲𑀓𑁆𑀬𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀻 Bu-dha Sa-kya-mu-nī, “Buddha, Sage of the Shakyas”).[26]
Śākyamuni, Sakyamuni, or Shakyamuni (Sanskrit: शाक्यमुनि, [ɕaːkjɐmʊnɪ]) means “Sage of the Shakyas”.[27]
