Country Group: South and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam)

Item id: 1360

This fellow is very striking and lovely Northern Thai Buddha. He is unusual in several ways-It is likely that he is of the very earliest of Northern Thai (Lanna) Buddhas, and is 13/14th century. The reasons I believe this are several:He is in a “Lanka” style, which was more typical of these earliest Northern Buddhas, as they were strongly influenced by the Thervadan monks who brought teachings to this area. He is solid cast, which was only done in the earliest period. The casting is also very finely finished of an alloy which looks to contain silver and possibly gold. Also unusual. The head is very small in relation to the body. The Ushinisha and finial are very small, and the sash on the chest is short and very thin- also emblematic of this type. I have had very few of this type, as they are quite rare. They are little written about in the books written in English, though they are highly sought after by Thai collectors. He is 3 and 3/8 inches tall- he is large for his height, as he has no base (typical for this Lanka type) and a short finial. Also, as with Lankan Buddhas, he is broad shouldered and long limbed (regular Northern Thai Buddhas are broad shouldered, but are not long limbed). He is unbelievably heavy for his size- both from being solid cast and likely precious metal content.