Pagoda and Raised Palm

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, his hands dividing motion and stillness between them: the left raised, the right bearing a pagoda. Face and hands and feet are bright gold; his eyes are lowered in a smile, a swastika at his chest, his curled hair black with a touch of gold at the topknot. The left hand stands upright beside his chest, palm outward; the right hand holds level in his lap a small golden pagoda of many storeys, narrowing tier by tier to an upward spire. The black robe covers his left shoulder and lower body, its folds falling like water and keeping a soft sheen within the darkness. Behind him, the pointed-arch aureole has a flame-pierced rim and a field of coiling scrolls set with tiny seated figures; below, the two-tiered black lotus throne bears him steadily. The contrast of black and gold is clean and decisive, and the pagoda's tip draws the eye upward — delicacy within solemnity, fit for a shrine, or as the anchoring piece that greets you at an entryway.