Golden Crown and Staff

Viewing notes

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

This bodhisattva sits in full lotus on a great golden lotus throne, a radiant round aureole spreading behind her like a wheel. She wears a tall golden crown, pierced and openworked, its flame patterns layered with jewels, two ribbons falling at her shoulders; her face is serene, her gaze lowered, and a golden necklace with a red pendant rests on her chest. Her right hand grips a golden pilgrim's staff that rises above her head, its head a knot of interlaced rings topped with a flaming jewel, while her left hand holds a small golden vase at her lap, a tuft of gold flame rising from its mouth. Her robe is painted pale blue-green throughout, water-scrolls and foliage in red, orange and gold thread flowing with its folds. The aureole radiates in tiers of golden flame-petals, carved open; the throne's two tiers are studded with red and green inlays at petal and waist. Splendid without overwhelming, she may be enshrined at the principal place of a shrine, or stand alone in a space like a wheel of pure golden light.