A Thousand Arms in a Halo

Viewing notes

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

This many-armed seated bodhisattva in warm wood tones spreads a great circular halo of countless arms behind her. She sits in full lotus on a layered lotus throne, wearing a crown above which further small heads are stacked, a tiny Buddha at the very top. Her principal hands are pressed together at her chest, another pair rests in the meditation seal in her lap, and at each side a hand steadies a tall staff — one ringed at its head, the other shaped as a trident. The halo is packed dense with small arms holding implements, wheels and round plaques, too many to count — and that uncountability is precisely the weight of the piece. Beneath is a rectangular base carved with a dharma wheel and running beasts. All warm wood, it wins nothing by colour and everything by density and order. For the central place of a shrine, or as the visual anchor of a large room: from far away, the eye is caught first by that ring of light.