A VERY LARGE ROSE SANDSTONE FIGURE OF BUDDHA, MON-DVARAVATI PERIOD, 8TH-9TH CENTURY

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A VERY LARGE ROSE SANDSTONE FIGURE OF BUDDHA, MON-DVARAVATI PERIOD, 8TH-9TH CENTURY This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve The Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger, entry from 2005: “No. 187, LA 1967, A. Maynard, Thai/Pre-Khmer (Prakhon Chai area) Mon style 8th-9th c. standing Buddha, pink sandstone.” Gallery price: EUR 315,000 or approx. EUR 526,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing. The ledger establishes that this object was located in Europe before the UNESCO 1970 Convention entered into force. Thailand. Sensitively carved, depicted standing firmly in samabhanga on a lotus pedestal, with both hands raised in vitarka mudra, the palms incised with stylized dharmachakra motifs. The figure clad in a diaphanous dhoti with an elegant waistline, its long, flowing sleeves falling in soft folds from the outstretched arms, gracefully framing the well-defined body. The face, bearing a benevolent expression, is distinguished by heavy-lidded, downcast eyes beneath gently arched brows, a prominent nose, and full lips forming a calm, composed smile, all flanked by long, pendulous earlobes. The hair is meticulously arranged in large, tightly coiled snail-shell curls rising over a prominently domed ushnisha. Important Note: For essential information on the Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger and provenance documentation please visit here: www.zacke.at/rubencollection_ledger Dimensions: Height 131.4 cm (incl. tang, excl. stand), 139.8 cm (incl. stand) With an associated modern stand. (2) Expert’s note: Considerable innovations in religious iconography were developed during the Mon-Dvaravati period. For example, many Buddhas hold both of their hands in a gesture of exposition or teaching (vitarka mudra) that in India is confined to the right hand. Images from the related site of Prakhon Chai also exhibit this double hand gesture, but otherwise it is unknown in the Buddhist world. In the early seventh century, a new Buddha type emerged in Southeast Asia, inspired by artistic innovations then developing in northern India. The principal source of these developments was the important monastic center of Sarnath, whose workshops undoubtedly supplied Buddha images to a wide range of patrons, including itinerant monks who likely acquired small, portable images, often, it may be surmised, carved in wood, for transport to their homelands. The surrounding geography, however, made travel through the territories occupied by Mon communities in present-day Thailand particularly difficult. This contributed to a degree of isolation among the small polities that inhabited the region and, in turn, fostered the emergence of a highly refined and distinctive Mon-Dvaravati style. While there is great variation within the Mon-Dvaravati tradition, the sensitivity paid to the modeling of these facial features is in keeping with the period’s focus on the purity and fluidity of form. As expressed by Jean Boisselier in The Heritage of Thai Sculpture, 1975, page 73, “The school of Dvaravati may stand alongside the great Buddhist artistic traditions of India, so enduring were its innovations and so persuasive its influence on most of the art of Southeast Asia.” Literature comparison: Compare a closely related sandstone figure of a standing Buddha, Thailand, Mon-Dvaravati period, 7th-8th century, 81.6 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 1982.220.6. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 17 March 2015, lot 1100 Price: USD 68,750 or approx. EUR 84,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of carving, and stone, with similar treatment of the hair and body-defining drapery.

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