Country Group:

Item id: 9532

This is a remarkable SukhoThai Buddha unlike any I have seen before. It is carved in Crystal in a 15 /16th-century style. It may be a period piece, though it could be as late as the 19th century as this style was very popular in 19th Thailand. The carving is like I have seen on only one other Crystal Buddha in all my years of collecting this particular niche. The size is huge for this type. It is more fractured than most quartz used for making Buddhas, because it is so difficult to carve such fine detail without pieces cracking off. Note the plasticity and roundness of the body-it is an effect I have only seen before on the best wax or sand-cast bronzes. The face is superb. there is small chipping around the edge of the base, but there is no apparent damage or loss to the actual figure. It appears to have originally been covered in gilding, which probably helped to protect it. It also sat somewhere, untouched, for a long period of time When I first unpacked it, it was extremely dirty and it was hard to pick it up without getting my hands dirty. It was hard to see that it was even made of crystal. I did not realize at first how fugitive the dark dirty surface was until I saw how much dirt was on the table after I unpacked it. finally, after I lightly wiped it off after unpacking it began to look as it does now.
( 9"W x 3.5"H x 2.625"D ) Size for Quartz only (not including museum-style custom base) Only loss- missing finial (photo)