Mark Rasmussen
International Director
Lot 638W
A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF AN ARHAT THAILAND, AYUTTHAYA PERIOD, 16TH/17TH CENTURY
Amended
23 September 2020, 15:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$47,575 inc. premium
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A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF AN ARHAT
THAILAND, AYUTTHAYA PERIOD, 16TH/17TH CENTURY
With traces of black lacquer in recessed areas.
32 1/2 in. (83 cm) high
With traces of black lacquer in recessed areas.
32 1/2 in. (83 cm) high
Footnotes
Please note that the provenance line should read 'Christie's, Amsterdam, 19 November 1997, lot 22.'
泰國 大城時期 十六/十七世紀 羅漢銅像
This rare bronze sculpture of an arhat depicts the monk seated in meditation with his right hand extending towards the ground to call on the Earth to bear witness to his enlightenment. An arhat in Theravada Buddhism, which predominates throughout Southeast Asia, represents the spiritual paradigm for ordinary beings to emulate. The highest spiritual goal for followers of Theravada Buddhism is to perfect Shakyamuni's teachings over many lifetimes, which results in becoming an arhat: an enlightened being freed from the cycle of rebirth (parinirvana).
Painting and sculpture of arhats frequent Thai temples. Their depiction largely imitates Buddha images, though without possessing certain key physical characteristics (lakshana) that distinguish Buddha as a supranatural being. As represented in this sculpture, these are the absence of Buddha's elongated earlobes and his ushnisha (a cranial protuberance), which has been exchanged for a monastic tonsure. Additionally, the orientation of the arhat's left hand is different from the Buddha's. Rather than the back of the hand resting in his lap, it is turned frontally toward the viewer and would have supported a separately made eye screen (that would look like a long-handled fan), which is a meditative aid for blocking visual distractions.
Stylistically, the arhat's relatively slender face with low arched brows and pointed chin, the simple elegance of the plain robe hugging his proportions, and the sculpture's brassy metallic composition are typical features of Ayutthaya sculpture between the 16th and 17th centuries. Compare the facial type with a 16th-century Crowned Buddha in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (Woodward, The Sacred Sculpture of Thailand, Baltimore, 1997, p.251, no.248). Very few Thai sculptures of arhats are published. See a 19th-century example formerly from the Collection of Doris Duke, published in Tingley, Doris Duke: The Southeast Asian Art Collection, New York, 2003, p.33, pl.10.
Provenance
Christie's, Amsterdam, 19 November 1991, lot 22
Saleroom notices
Please note that the provenance line should read 'Christie's, Amsterdam, 19 November 1997, lot 22.'