Expert’s note: The exceptionally fine and crisp incision work, combined with masterfully executed gilding and an unusually heavy casting, strongly suggests a date between circa 1720 and 1750, with little deviation. This assessment is further supported by X-ray images (available upon request), which reveal an extraordinarily precise casting with razor-sharp internal edges and contours, as well as the possible presence of sacred contents.

Heavily cast seated in dhyanasana above a double-lotus base with beaded rim, the hands held before the chest in dharmachakra mudra, wearing a robe with meticulously incised foliate hems. The serene face with downcast eyes, sinuous eyelids, a wide nose above bow-shaped lips, flanked by elongated earlobes, and the head surmounted by the prominent ushnisha with diamond-shaped finial. The hair is in tight snail-shell curls and covered in blue pigments.

The base sealed with a double-vajra.

Provenance: From an old private collection in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany, and thence by descent. Van Ham, Cologne, 5 December 2019, lot 2094, dated as Qing Dynasty. A private collection in Montreal, Canada, acquired from the above.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear, casting irregularities, small nicks, few light surface scratches, some of the fingers on both hands with soldering marks, a few tiny fills to the left shoulder and back, and minor rubbing to the gilt. The base sealed.

Weight: 2 kg
Dimensions: Height 19.5 cm

The iconography relates to Buddha's first sermon after his enlightenment given at Mrigadava, the deer park at Sarnath, where he set in motion the Wheel of Dharma. The episode is personified in the dharmachakra hand gestures, showing The Buddha with his hands in the gesture of turning the Buddhist Wheel of Law and expounding the dharma.

Buddha Dipankara, who is believed to have lived for 100,000 years, is one of the predecessors of the historical Buddha Gautama and is credited for setting the Wheel of Dharma in motion, thus marking the beginning of the Buddhist faith. Dipankara’s prophetic abilities are known from a jataka, stories that record events from the Buddha’s past lives, where the ascetic Sumedha, a past incarnation of Buddha Shakyamuni, offered to spread his hair and flowers on the ground for Dipankara to walk on and avoid the mud.

Literature comparison: Similar gilt-bronze figures include one illustrated in Zhongguo Zang chuan fo jiao jin tong zaoxiang yishu [The art of Tibetan-Buddhist gilt-metal sculptures in China], vol. 1, Beijing, 2000, pl. 64; one, in the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, included in the exhibition Wisdom Embodied. Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, fig. 27; and another dated to 1662, from the collection of John M. Crawford Jr., illustrated in Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 152, pl. 152A.

Representations of the Buddha Dipankara are known from as early as the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534); see a sandstone stele included in the exhibition Wisdom Embodied, op. cit., cat. no. 5.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams London, 15 May 2014, lot 297
Price: GBP 23,750 or approx. EUR 43,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gilt-bronze figure of Buddha, 18^th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of casting, and gilding, with similar face, garment folds and hems, and base. Note the smaller size (16.6 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby's, 5 November 2014, lot 46
Price: GBP 164,500 or approx. EUR 225,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Dipankara, Qing Dynasty, 17^th-18^th century
Expert remark: Compare the similar form, incised details, especially the finely worked hems, the delicate fingers, and the rich gilding. Note that this example is possibly larger than the present lot, but has significant condition issues.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s Hong Kong, 6 April 2015, lot 159
Price: HKD 937,500 or approx. EUR 143,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gilt-bronze figure of buddha, Tibeto-Chinese, 18th century
Expert remark: Compare the similar form of the lotus petals and beaded rim of the base, the finely worked hems, the delicate fingers, and rich gilding. Note the much larger size (33 cm).