Country Group:

Item id: 10795

7/8thC or a bit later Korean Bronze Buddha-Outstanding! Very large and fine. World-class in this size, quality and early dating. I can find very few comparable examples this nice outside museums. Out of a southern California collection that appeared to be put together in the 1950s through the 1980s. Likely brought to the USA during or shortly after the Korean war in the first half of the 1950s. With a Korean G.I. or other American involved in the Korean war war occupied Korea. As with Japan in the 1940s, many great antiques and pieces of religious are were sold to westerners during the period shortly after the war. Some of the veterans I’ve spoken to Who purchased some of these pieces have told me that in a number of cases, especially when they were cast out of silver, they were going to be melted down before they got involved in purchasing them. I purchased a number of beautiful silver Korean Buddhist bells, and other altar pieces that were purchased in this manner. There were many missionaries who came into Korea during this. That converted a significant portion of the population to Christianity, and many Buddhas were melted down,/destroyed for this reason.

At first, I thought it was a copy or a later emulation as I could not believe I had found a Korean Buddha of this size and beauty in this condition, from this early date, but after several months of examination and research, I am confident it is what it appears to be. It has jumped to being the best of my collection, and one of the best I have owned or offered in 40 years of collecting and 30+ years of selling. The casting is correct, the patina grows out from inside the metal, and the iconography, and overall feel of the piece all point towards this being exactly what it appears to be. Initially, I dated it as 9th to 11th century or later based on early large, Korean bronze examples. I then, with the benefit of AI, came across several closer examples with the same body type, face, stance, robes, head and crown that were from the seventh, eighth century, including a very closely related example, also quite large shown in the online Nelson Atkins Museum. It was quite similar in almost every way. (See last photo for Nelson Atkins 7/8thC example). Most of what I could find are much smaller examples which tend to have rounder faces and bodies. The few taller/larger examples varied and some had the more slender profile of this one.

An impressive 34.5 inches Tall.