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Hi all,

I'd appreciate your help in identifying and aging this Buddha statue. I believe it's a Buddha statue -- and my uneducated guess is it's from SE Asia -- but I wouldn't be shocked if I were wrong on both fronts as I am no expert. The patina on it looks very natural, so I'm assuming it's old, but I'm not sure how old. I picked it up at a garage sale for a dollar; did I do well?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Greg

Here's a pic from the front ( meant to post it in my original message).

Hello,

Try to look at the neck break.
If the break is equal every where, it's a reproduction, not an antique.
Keep in mind that, if real, this head had a body attached to it. So you should see some irregularities under the neck.If you do, it's a good sign and can investigate further in the "patina"


Cheers

First, thank you for your response!

The bottom is uneven and looks as though it was broken off from the body of the statue (see pic). It looks like it suffered a stress fracture when someone put the metal stake into it in order to mount it on the wood block.

If it is, in fact, an antique, how old do you think it is?

Thanks!

I guess it's a stone sculpture, is it?

Looks like the color under the neck is lighter that the exposed area, so it's a good sign too.

The style doesn't looks Chinese.
I also guess it's S/E Asia but I can't be more precise.I'm not familiar enough with S/E Asia to designate a country.

I would need bigger photos to guess an approximate age.

Cheers

I do not believe it's stone but rather bronze or some other copper allow. I think you can see in the pics below that it's oxidizing as bronze/copper word in some areas. Plus, I have a little hand-held metal detector and this statue sets it off (although that could also be the metal stake).

After doing some internet research, I found some other statues that resemble mine that are listed as being from the 15-17th centuries (see link). I'd be pretty stoked if in fact I had something that old.

Anyway, here are some closer pics that I hope show more detail.







URL Title :Similar Statues

This came from a Thai bronze buddha. The lighter part under the neck is the clay core which was used to shape the head during firing. The top of the head seems damaged, as it should rise to a sharp top. This head is not 15 to 17th C. It is most likely late 19th C or early 20th C.

Sorry for the late response. Thank you very much for your insights into this piece!

I think it is Ayutthaya Crowned Buddha head early 17th Century, though difficult to tell, because of the considerable wear to decorations. If the decorations on the crown appears more geometric, or simple pretzel shaped designs then it is early C17th, if the decoration to the crown appear more floral, vines, then it is late C17th. These small sculptures were made in quantity, often found buried under stupas, inside larger Buddhas, the quality of decoration was usually not so good.

I don't believe it is a forgery, as it has quite some damage, and wear, lowish value, so not worth forging!
Nice little conversation piece.

The attached image ia a much better quality sculpture!
Contemporary to you head, C17th.

Geoff

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