Lotus Bearer in a Leaf of Light

Viewing notes

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

This small seated figure is gold throughout, sitting in full lotus while a great aureole behind it fills nearly the whole frame. The bodhisattva wears a tall openwork crown wound with floral vines; the face is lowered in calm. The right hand holds a lotus stem before the body, its bud reaching up beside the shoulder; the left hand rests lightly on a knee. Robes fall in tiers, the drapery across the chest and belly ranked in horizontal rows like waves. The gold is not new: its surface is mottled, light and dark unevenly, as if stroked by many hands across the years. The aureole behind takes the shape of a pointed leaf, gathering from below into a single tip, its whole face dense with spiralling scrolls, its outline drawn by one dark line at the rim. Beneath is an opened golden lotus with thick petals, set upon a round carved base. Small in size but not in presence, it suits a desk-side shrine or a wall niche — a complete gesture of reverence within a little space.