A LARGE COPPER ALLOY HEAD OF BUDDHA


CENTRAL THAILAND, AYUTTHAYA PERIOD, 16TH CENTURY 12 in. (30.5 cm) high
|泰國中部 大城時期 十六世紀 銅佛首 This outstanding large bronze head of Buddha from the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Central Thailand bears a regal countenance and beautiful green patina. It would have almost certainly featured a crown, affixed into the groove bordering the hairline before its distinctively smooth dome and ushnisha. By contrast, Thai images of Buddha without a crown feature nub-like tufts or snail shell curls, preserving iconography established in the Gupta period of 4th- to 6th-century India. This image was intended to imbue Buddha with regal splendor. In particular, the head features a facial type employed during the Ayutthaya Kingdom for Crowned Buddha images, characterized by a brow marked by a thinly incised arc at its base above the eyelids, and an acute, raised ridge that meets in the center to form the bridge of the nose. Another characteristic feature is this bronze's beautifully modeled lips with an incised line around the perimeter, converging on recessed dimples to form a crescent-shaped smile. A third common attribute are the elegant upswept eyes that reserve only a narrow opening for a downcast gaze. These traits are represented in 16th-century heads cast with their crowns in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (B60S13) and The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (25.1). The Walters head also features a particular incised line above the upper eyelid that suggests they likely share a close period and workshop. The Walters Art Museum also holds complete standing and seated images (54.281 & 54.2554). Lastly, another bronze Ayutthaya head with a plain dome, in the San Diego Museum of Art, has small holes at the hairline clearly made for an affixed crown (1948.35). Discussing the popular ascendency of the Crowned Buddha type by the mid-16th century, Woodward indicates that at least in one instance, such an image is used to signify Maitreya, the Buddha of the future. However, in the 18th century, a reliable account explicitly refers to crowned Buddha images as depicting Shakyamuni when he converted the heretic king Jambupati (Woodward, The Sacred Sculpture of Thailand, Seattle, 1997, p.233). Provenance La Compagnie de la Chine et des Indes, Paris, 6 November 1971 Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, 31 October 2017, lot 174