A RARE GROUP OF FIVE LARGE (156 CM HIGH) GILT-LACQUERED FIGURES OF BUDDHAS, LATE AYUTTHAYA TO EARLY RATTANAKOSIN PERIOD
This lot is a museum deaccession and is therefore offered without reserve

Thailand, 17th to 18th century. Each standing in samabhanga atop a separately cast, octagonal, multi-tiered pedestal, wearing long, loose-fitting monastic robes. Each hold their hands in different mudras, such as abhaya, anjali, and dhyana. They wear diaphanous monastic robes secured at the waist by a belt and have serene faces with heavy-lidded, downcast eyes, thin lips that form a calm smile, as well as elegantly arched brows. Their hair is arranged in pointed curls around a high ushnisha, which is surmounted by a separately cast ketumala. (5)

Provenance: The Kienzle Family Collection, Stuttgart, Germany. Acquired between 1950 and 1985 by siblings Else (1912-2006), Reinhold (1917-2008), and Dr. Horst Kienzle (1924-2019), during their extensive travels in Asia. Subsequently inherited by Dr. Horst Kienzle and bequeathed to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, Germany. Released through museum deaccession in 2024. The Kienzle siblings were avid travelers and passionate collectors of Asian and Islamic art. During their travels, the Kienzle’s sought out and explored temples, monasteries, and markets, always trying to find the best pieces wherever they went, investing large sums of money and forging lasting relationships to ensure they could acquire them. Their fervor and success in this pursuit is not only demonstrated by their collection but further recorded in correspondences between Horst Kienzle and several noted dignitaries, businesses and individuals in Nepal and Ladakh. Their collection had gained renown by the 1970s, but the Kienzle’s stopped acquiring new pieces around 1985. Almost thirty years later, the collection was moved to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, opened by Peter Hardt in 2014. Before his death in 2019, Horst Kienzle bequeathed his entire property to Peter Hardt and legally adopted him as his son, who has been using the name Peter Kienzle-Hardt ever since.
Condition: Good condition with expected wear and casting irregularities. Some areas of the gilding may have been refreshed in the 19th or early 20th century. Light scratches, tiny nicks and dents, extensive flaking to the gilt, and casting fissures. The figures can be moved from the base. The base of one figure with soldering marks to the lug. A rich, naturally-grown, smooth patina, and areas of malachite encrustations.

Dimensions: Height circa 156 cm (each)

The Pali literature of the Theravada tradition includes tales of 28 previous Buddhas. In countries where Theravada Buddhism is practiced by the majority of people, such as Thailand, it is customary for Buddhists to hold elaborate festivals, especially during the fair weather season, paying homage to the last 28 Buddhas described in the Buddhavamsa. The Buddhavamsa is a text which describes the life of Gautama Buddha and the 27 Buddhas who preceded him, along with the future Metteyya Buddha. This lot comprises five figures from the lineage of the 28 Buddhas honored in the Theravada tradition, as seen in temple settings such as Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai, where shrines to each of the Buddhas are arranged for devotional veneration, and Wat Pho, one of the best-known temples in Bangkok. Groups of Buddhas such as the present lot are exceedingly rare and almost never found outside of public shrines and temples.

Thailand's Ayutthaya kingdom was one of the most powerful forces in mainland Southeast Asia between the 14th and 18th centuries. Continuing the artistic trajectory set forth under the Sukhothai, the Theravada polity sponsored the production of Buddha images fashioned in a new distinct style. The faces display a curvilinear contour with the hairline lower, towards the sinuous brow line, accentuated by elongated ears flared at upper and lower tips. The eyes, extending evenly across the width of the face, are three-quarters closed to endow the figure with a sense of serenity that is at once inwardly directed and also engaged with the world.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related gilt-bronze figure of Buddha dated to the 15th century, 156.2 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1991.423.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 20 March 2025, lot 551
Price: USD 165,100 or approx. EUR 145,000 (for one) converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large gilt-bronze figure of Shakyamuni Buddha, Thailand, Ayutthaya period, 15th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of casting, and gilding, with similar robe, facial features, and expression. Note the size (155 cm) and earlier dating.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s Paris, 6 July 2022, lot 233
Price: EUR 22,680 or approx. EUR 24,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni, Thailand, Ayutthaya period, 17^th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of casting, and gilding, with similar robe, facial features, and expression. Note the size (106 cm) and inlaid eyes.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Melbourne, 1 May 2007, lot 83
Price: AUD 14,400 or approx. EUR 13,000 (for one) converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gilt bronze standing Buddha, Thai, late Ayuthya period, early 18th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of casting, and gilding, with similar robe, facial features, and expression. Note the size (98 cm).