Expert’s note: Sri Lankan figures of Buddha are noted for remarkable stylistic conservativism, having followed a consistent canon of proportions from their earliest origins. The later Kandyan period, however, saw considerable variation in the rendering of the robe, marked by highly precise linear patterns worked into the folds. There are elements to this specific bronze, from the softer casting style of the shoulders and arms to the pronounced surface wear, that make it feel a bit older than most of the Kandyan Period examples on the market.

Sri Lanka, 17^th-18^th century. Solidly cast seated in vajraparyankasana with his hands folded in dhyanamudra, the Buddha’s broad-shouldered form is fitted in a finely pleated sanghati draped over his left shoulder. His face bares a calm, meditative expression and was likely once framed by pendulous earlobes and surmounted by a flaming siraspata.

Provenance: The Phillips Family Collection, Lawrence and Shirley Phillips, and thence by descent to Michael Phillips (born 1943), who is an Academy Award-winning film producer. Born in Brooklyn, New York, his parents were Lawrence and Shirley Phillips, noted New York dealers in Asian fine arts, selling to the Met, the LACMA, the Chicago Art Institute, and the British Museum among others. Michael Phillips is a collector of Asian art himself, particularly Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan sculpture. His most important films include The Sting (winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1973), Taxi Driver (winning the Palme d’Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival), and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Condition: Some wear and casting irregularities, minor losses, soldering marks, small nicks, light scratches. The head has been reattached at some point in time. Fine, naturally grown, rich patina.

Weight: 3,340 g
Dimensions: Height 15.5 cm

After three hundred years of internecine civil conflict and successive waves of European imperialists, the Kingdom of Kandy emerged as the pre-eminent Sinhalese political authority. Under its stability and the avid patronage of its kings, Sri Lanka witnessed a Buddhist revival with an unprecedented amount of building and restoring of monastic institutions. Bronze Buddha images proliferated, most of them either gilded or non-gilded depicting the sage in a standing pose. Fewer portrayed the Buddha seated, like the present example.

Two predominant forces inform the distinctive style of Kandyan Buddhist art. One is the continuance of Sinhalese tradition in depicting Buddha with a broad body type wrapped in a pleated robe, set by colossal statues of the Anuradhapura and Polunnaruwa periods. The other is a South Indian tradition of expressing dynastic identity through artistic patronage of religious objects, pursued with enthusiasm by the Nayak princes, who were invited to assume Kandy's throne after its last Sinhalese king died without an heir in 1739. Such fusion is exemplified by the present sculpture, whose massive shoulders and air of empyrean authority evoke tradition, while the mesmerizing crinkles of the garment, abstracted physiognomy, and enlarged flame finial summon Kandyan panache.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related bronze figure of Buddha dated to the 18^th century, in the Art Institute of Chicago, gifted by Lawrence and Shirley Phillips, the previous owners of the present lot, reference number 1984.1304. Compare fifteenth and sixteenth-century Buddhas from the Divided Kingdoms period (c. 1232-1597), see U. von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures of Sri Lanka, p. 467, pls. 144 D-G.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Bonhams Hong Kong, 30 November 2022, lot 1047
Price: HKD 355,800 or approx. EUR 42,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Silvered Copper Alloy Figure Of Seated Buddha, Sri Lanka, Kandyan Period, 18th Century
Expert remark: Note the closely related style of the garment folds. Also note that the figure is silvered and significantly larger (26.5 cm) than the present lot.