Palms Joined on the Lion Throne

Viewing notes

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

This is a two-tiered shrine set centred on a figure in prayer, composed to stand as one. Above, the principal figure wears a tall crown and sits in full lotus with palms joined at the chest upon a great many-layered lotus throne, borne up by four lions with open mouths and raised heads. Behind him spreads an enormous round aureole painted with clouds in pale blue and milky white, a golden ring around his head set among lotus scrolls — bright and spacious as the sky. In front of the round platform below sits a second figure in white, crowned in gold, a prayer-bead strand held in joined hands, the white robes traced with gilt lines and an expression gentler and closer than the lord above. The palette is pale gold, blush white and soft blue — tender, yet solemn. A set to be enshrined whole in a shrine room, drawing the eye upward, tier by tier, into quiet.