The Laughing Gold

Viewing notes

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

This small seated figure is golden from head to foot and laughing out loud. Bald with long earlobes, his eyes crinkle into slits and his open mouth spreads the smile from cheek to cheek. His great round belly is bared, a string of large prayer beads with a single pendant resting above it; the robe, a deep greenish gold with a faint pattern, has slipped down over his arms and hips, setting off the brighter gold of his skin. One knee is raised with a hand resting loosely on it, the other hand gathers the robe's edge, and his bare feet settle one before the seat and one beneath him in complete ease. He sits on a round, deep-red lotus pedestal with plump petals and a beaded rim. Warm, golden and full of good cheer, he belongs in a shrine or on a desk — anywhere a first glance should end in a smile.