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

Item id: 7778

A rare and fine Amravati style bronze Buddha, post-Gupta period, dating to the 8th-10th century, or earlier, Remains of lacquer on the top of the toes and gilding on the underside of feet.Left hand has a bit of flattening-otherwise near perfect. Measures 11 inches tall and 12 1/8 inches on custom stand. Purchased 20+ years ago from an old German collection. I had thought this was a very early Thai walking Buddha, until I saw a few Indian prototypes. Through my research, I realized this piece was from hundreds of years earlier, and originated in India (and far rarer). See the (last) photo in listing of related post-Gupta piece dated to the 9/10thC. My piece has more finesse, with far more complex robes and a better face and is larger in size. As with all Indian bronzes of this period, it is solid cast. I had thought mine was a flattened walking Buddha with little movement in it's feet, but it is actually an Indian pre-walking Buddha with a great sway in its hips. The feet are likely not out of place(as I had originally thought, though they might have some repair), but are probably as intended when created. It took 20 years to figure this piece out as I had been looking at it as being Southeast Asian, and being a crossover from Davarati to early Sukhothai rather than it being earlier, and from India. The Gupta style was actually a precursor to the Davarati style, and was one of the templates for most of the SE Asian Buddhist sculpture to follow for the next 1000+ years.