Willow Branch and White Vase

Viewing notes

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

This seated bodhisattva in golden robes sits in full lotus on a lotus throne, backed by a pointed-arch aureole of red and gold rising to a flame tip. The crown is finely worked, a touch of sapphire blue behind it; the golden face smiles with lowered eyes, long earlobes to the shoulders. The right hand lightly holds a spray of green willow leaves, the left cradles a lustrous white vase at the lap — one green, one white, unusually pure amid all the gold. Robes fall in layers from the shoulders, the beaded ornaments fine and close, the drapery spreading over the knees in slow waves. The aureole is red at the ground and gold in the pattern, blue-green dragons coiling among flowers and leaves, flames licking up its rim — splendid without noise; a green-edged halo behind the head keeps the face gentle and settled. Below stands a tiered octagonal altar base, carved, inlaid with red, small lions watching at its corners. Gold for solemnity, willow and vase for purity: made for a shrine, or for a bright place in a room, where the heart quiets at first sight.