The Bearded Patriarch

Viewing notes

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

This copper-toned, long-bearded figure sits cross-legged on a plain rectangular plinth. A hood covers his head, topped with a small ornamental crest; his brows are thick and curling, his eyes glare wide, and a full curly beard covers his cheeks — a face of natural authority that needs no smile. His chest is half-bared, solid and muscular, and the inner collar is worked with dense scrolling vines. Both hands rest folded in his lap, gripping a string of large prayer beads whose tassel falls between his knees. The robe pours from his shoulders in layers, its folds rolling across the knees in deep, slow waves, the hem spreading over the seat and spilling past its edge. The copper is deep throughout, warmed to gold on face and hands. With neither joined palms nor a smile, the figure holds a room by sheer seated presence — a piece for a study, a tea room, or the commanding seat of a space, made as much for anchoring a room as for contemplation.