A large silver-inlaid copper alloy figure of Shakyamuni Buddha, Kashmir, circa 10th / 11th century

Asian Family Collection.

Acquired in Hong Kong, circa 2000.

This superbly preserved copper alloy figure of Shakyamuni Buddha, large and commanding in scale, is a legacy of Kashmiri workmanship, with a rich dark patina from centuries of preservation in the arid conditions of the Tibetan plateau. The figure is depicted standing with a slight tribhanga curve sway, with the robe cascading down with rippling geometric undulating patterns. A thick collar on the robe covers both shoulders. His left hand is depicted holding the hem of his robe, while the fragmented right hand would likely have originally been raised in abhayamudra. Wearing a pleated sanghati, the figure's face is richly cast with full lips and raised urna, his tightly curled hair pulled over the ushnisha. The intricate silver-inlaid eyes frame the serene countenance of the face, contrasting strongly with the darkness of the patina. 

The present figure closely relates to a smaller example in the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (accession no. 51-55), included in the exhibition Collecting Paradise:  Buddhist Art of Kashmir and Its Legacies, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2015, cat. no. 1.26, ascribed to the 10th / 11th century. Compare also a larger copper alloy figure of Buddha in the collection of the Potala Palace, illustrated in Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, Vol. I, pl. 30A-C.