Buddha with Raised Palm

Viewing notes

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

This seated Buddha, golden from head to base, sits in full lotus on a double-layered lotus throne before a tall pointed-arch aureole. His snail-curl hair is smoothly rounded, his face composed, a swastika marks his chest; the right palm stands raised outward with an emblem in its centre, while the left hand gently pinches a small ring before his belly. The aureole is edged with flame patterning and filled with layer upon layer of relief — auspicious clouds, ritual implements and small figures arranged around the head-halo, dense as a golden screen. Below the throne stands a railed square platform carved with scrolling lotus along its rim. The gold is pure and saturated, splendid yet calm: enshrined at the principal place of a shrine he is solemn and striking, and as a collected display he becomes a centre of radiance in his own right.