Round Halo Above the Rocks

Viewing notes

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

This white bodhisattva sits before a great round halo. His crown is tall and intricate, its tassels falling to his shoulders, and he rests at ease on a craggy rock seat: one knee raised, an arm laid carelessly across it, the other hand settled before his legs — a repose as unforced as a pause beside water. Necklaces of beads hang in layer upon layer over his chest; the drapery streams from his shoulders and pours over the edge of the rock in long slow arcs, and below, a band of rolling waves closes the base. Behind him the huge circular aureole is left entirely plain, its rim warmed by a soft glow that makes the whiteness read even purer. Only a few strands of deep blue in the hair and ribbons, and a touch of vermilion on the lips, break the white. A piece for an uncluttered room or the side of a shrine, where quiet gathers of itself.