A RARE AND LARGE BRONZE FIGURE OF THE WALKING BUDDHA, U-THONG C STYLE, 14TH CENTURY

拍品描述

A RARE AND LARGE BRONZE FIGURE OF THE WALKING BUDDHA, U-THONG C STYLE, 14TH CENTURY This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve The Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger, entry from 2005: “No. 134, LA 2002, Thai Walking U-Thong-C Buddha 15th c. bronze” Gallery price: EUR 185,000 or approx. EUR 309,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing. Thailand. Superbly cast, depicted striding forward with the right leg slightly advanced, the right hand raised in abhaya mudra, the gesture of reassurance and protection, while the left arm extends gracefully alongside the body. The figure is clad in a diaphanous sanghati, elegantly draped over the left shoulder and falling in a gently undulating hemline. The finely modeled face conveys a profound serenity, characterized by heavy-lidded downcast eyes beneath softly arched brows, a slender nose, and full lips forming a composed smile, all framed by long, pendulous earlobes. The hair is arranged in tight, spiked curls covering the prominent ushnisha, surmounted by a flame. Important Note: For essential information on the Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger and provenance documentation please visit here: www.zacke.at/rubencollection_ledger Dimensions: Height 131.7 cm (excl. stand), 134.9 cm (incl. stand) Mounted on an associated wood stand. (2) This unusually large image of the Buddha is a paragon of Southeast Asian metal casting and an exemplary example of the rare and refined U-Thong corpus of Thai Buddhist sculpture. The U-Thong style, a term used to classify bronzes into three successive chronological groups, identified by A. B. Griswold as styles A, B, and C, dating from the late twelfth to the fifteenth century, reflects a synthesis of Mon, Khmer, and other Southeast Asian influences that persisted from earlier workshop traditions in the region. The latest U-Thong group, style C, to which the present bronze may be attributed, was fully developed after the founding of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1351. It is the closest of the three phases to the mainstream Ayutthaya style of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, while still retaining discernible Mon and Khmer elements. Whereas most U-Thong images, particularly those of the earlier phases, are relatively small in scale, the present bronze is exceptionally impressive due to its almost life-sized scale and the refinement of its casting. The designation ‘U-Thong’ remains somewhat ambiguous. Although a Mon Dvaravati city-state of this name flourished during the Dvaravati period, from approximately the seventh to eleventh century, archaeological evidence suggests that it had been abandoned by the eleventh century. The term is more plausibly associated with King Ramathibodi, founder of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1351, who was also known as Prince U-Thong. Accordingly, the term ‘U-Thong style’ refers to bronzes produced in a distinctive idiom that developed prior to the foundation of Ayutthaya and subsequently evolved through synthesis with the dominant artistic traditions of the Ayutthaya period. Its earliest formative impulses derive from a sophisticated amalgamation of regional styles, including the Khmer-influenced Lopburi tradition and the Khmer Empire to the east, the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya to the north, and the polities of Burma to the west. U-Thong sculptures are most readily distinguished from other contemporaneous styles by the treatment of the face and the detailing of the head and hair. The cranial protuberance, or ushnisha, in Styles B and C is typically surmounted by a tall flaming jewel. The hair is rendered in small, tightly coiled curls, in contrast to the larger ‘snail-shell’ curls characteristic of Sukhothai sculpture. A thin, plain band separates the hairline from the forehead, often culminating in a pronounced widow’s peak, as in the present example. The face, marked by heavy-lidded, downcast eyes, a broad nose, and full lips, reflects the influence of earlier Khmer models, particularly the thirteenth-century Bayon style. In style C, however, these somewhat austere features are softened, as is evident as well in the present work. Likewise, whereas styles A and B tend toward almost rectangular facial structures, style C moves closer to more oval physiognomies characteristic of contemporary Ayutthaya sculpture, a development also apparent in this image. Equally distinctive of U-Thong style sculpture is the refined handling of the drapery, which often falls in soft folds along the back at the level of the feet, thereby framing the figure in a restrained and balanced manner. This treatment contrasts with other contemporary examples, in which the drapery more commonly cascades from the raised arm in a more fluid, sinuous movement. See, for example, the two images of standing Buddha depicting the gesture of forbidding relatives from fighting, in the U-Thong style, cast from a model preserved at Wat Rajathiwat, Bangkok, and installed in the cloister surrounding the ordination hall (Ubosot) of Wat Benchamabophit, Bangkok. Literature comparison: Compare a related earlier bronze figure of a Walking Buddha, dated first half of the 13th century, 29 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 1984.481. Auction result comparison: Type: Related Auction: Christie’s London, 13 October 2023, lot 4 Price: GBP 604,800 or approx. EUR 774,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of casting and modeling. Note the similar size (132.7 cm) and different pose. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Christie’s New York, 17 September 1999, lot 254 Price: USD 112,500 or approx. EUR 193,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the related manner of casting and modeling. Note the size (117 cm).

图片