Raised Palm in Black and Gold

Viewing notes

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

This Buddha in black and gold sits in full lotus: face, hands, feet and chest are bright gold, while robe and aureole are deep black throughout. His curled hair is black, his eyes lowered in seated stillness, a swastika at his chest. His right hand stands upright before him, palm outward; his left hand cradles a small golden lotus bud in his lap. The black robe drapes diagonally from the left shoulder, its folds falling tier upon tier, their depths told only by light and shadow. Behind him the aureole rises into a pointed arch, its rim a dense fretwork of flame-like piercing, its field coiled with vines and scrolls in which five tiny seated figures are set. The two-tiered lotus throne below is black as well, its petals plump and full. Gold is spent only where it matters most — face, hands and breast — and so it shines the brighter: calm and commanding, fit for the principal seat of a shrine, and presence enough to steady a whole room.