Resting Against the Books

Viewing notes

A viewer's written impression — not a buyer review or first-hand record

This copper-toned seated figure is a reader caught in a moment of rest. A small urna mark rests between his brows and his eyes are softly closed; his body leans gently to the right, the right arm resting loose against two stacked book cases at his side — as if, tired from reading the sutras, he had simply paused to rest. The left knee is raised, the robe falling in layers from his shoulders and spreading around it to fill the seat, whose rim is carved with a ring of open lotus petals. Below, a solid rocky base in rough texture answers the figure's mellow copper like coarse to fine. There is no grand preaching gesture here, only the everyday air of a man of books — approachable and calm. It belongs in a study above anywhere, a companion in reading and sitting; placed in a quiet room for devotion, it carries the peace of a life of learning.