Blue Robe, Held Bowl

Viewing notes

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

This seated Buddha rests in full lotus on a great golden lotus throne, a peach-shaped aureole pierced in gold behind him. His curled hair is blue-black with a red jewel set in the topknot, an urna between his brows; eyes lowered, he sits upright with a golden swastika pendant on his chest. Both hands rest in his lap in the meditation seal, cradling a small golden bowl. The robe is painted pale blue-green, its whole surface alive with red-orange foliage and gold-thread pattern, the folds falling from the shoulders to spread across the knees. The aureole's scrolling lotus is carved open in interlacing layers, light passing through it, a round halo ringed at its centre around his head; the throne's two tiers of full petals are set with red and green inlays amid cloud scrolls at the waist. Rich gold below, quiet blue above — the two answer each other. He may be enshrined at the principal place of a shrine, or kept in a study or tea room, lending everyday life a measure of steadiness.