A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF BUDDHA, KANDYAN PERIOD, SRI LANKA, 18TH CENTURY

Finely cast, standing in samabhanga on a stepped circular plinth with his right raised in vitarka mudra, wearing an elaborately pleated sanghati with deeply incised undulating folds and a sash draped over his left shoulder. His rounded face cast with crisply delineated features, the eyes lidded and downcast, the aquiline nose and pursed lips flanked by long pendulous pierced lobes.

Provenance: Collection of Sigurd Reininghaus. Collection of Dr. Ferdinand and Dr. Gudrun Thaler-Szulyovsky, acquired from the above and thence by descent in the same family. The base with an old collector’s label, ‘118’, and inscribed with the initials of the previous owner Sigurd Reininghaus, ‘S.R. 118’. Sigurd Reininghaus (1933-1981) was a prominent Styrian brewer whose family lived in Castle Rabenstein for nearly two centuries. Sigurd developed a passion for Chinese art, which he displayed in Castle Rabenstein for his guests to see. Dr. Ferdinand and Dr. Gudrun Thaler-Szulyovsky, both lawyers by trade, met in 1967 through their mutual passion for art. Together they built a substantial and diverse art collection over many decades, one of their first works of Asian art being a painting of Guan Yu, received as payment for legal services, from Sigurd Reininghaus.
Condition: Good condition with expected old wear, casting flaws, small nicks, the siraspata lost. The wood base with minor age cracks and remnants of pigment and adhesive.

Weight: 1,671 g (incl. base)
Dimensions: Height 21 cm (excl. base)

Mounted on an associated old painted wood base of waisted double-lotus form. (2)

This sculpture is solid cast, as is characteristic in Sri Lanka beginning with the late Anuradhapura period, and as dictated by the Sariputra, is the canon of proportions to be followed for making Buddha images. The consistency of style is further guaranteed by the employment of matrices of body parts for the wax models in preparing the casts. However, while Kandyan sculpture is consistent in its broad shouldered outline, there is considerable variation in the rendering of the robe, with various degrees of undulation in the wave patterns of the folds, as well as the hemline of the sanghati draped across the left shoulder. Instead of an ushnisha, the more familiar cranial flaming protuberance is characteristic of Sri Lankan images of the Buddha.

The folds of the robe are draped asymmetrically across his body, emulating the Anuradhapura style and indicating the soft, delicate cotton garment worn in a tropical climate. The gentle drapes of cloth suggest the sheer texture of the fabric beneath the right chest. In the 18th century Kandy, the continuous pleats of the earlier visual culture evolved into a symphony of rippling intensity that enlivens the otherwise static Buddha figure. His right hand raised in the gesture of teaching bears an etched lotus, which is an element unique to the Kandyan period.

After a period of decline lasting a few centuries, Buddhism in Sri Lanka was revived throughout the Kandyan kingdom in the second half of the eighteenth century under the King Kirti Sri Rajasinha (r. 1747-1782), who encouraged Buddhist monks from Burma and Thailand to emigrate to Sri Lanka, and heavily patronized the Buddhist institutions within his kingdoms.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related example, in J. Baker, Guardian of the Flame, 2003, p. 146, illustrated on the left. Compare a related image of Buddha in U. von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures of Sri Lanka, 1990, pl. 165-67.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams New York, 19 March 2019, lot 870
Estimate: USD 50,000 or approx. EUR 55,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A copper alloy figure of Buddha, Sri Lanka, Kandyan period, 18^th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and manner of casting. Note that this figure, like the present lot, lacks gilding and the siraspata. Note the larger size (39 cm), which however includes the base.