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Dear Members,

Please, may i ask for help in identifying this Buddha bust?

The closest guess i can come up with is Burmese, but have yet to see a similar image. It has certain similarities with the Pagan style, cupid bow mouth, urna (forehead mark), lowly arching eyebrows, square face. But, their are some dissimilarities, large ushnisha (cranial protrubence), no rings at the neck, shawl over the shoulder has fancier pleats than i would have expected. The small whorl finial is one i haven't seen before.
All in all, this sculpture leaves me scratching my head.

It's 46cm high, once part of a larger Sculpture; not something i feel very comfortable with, even though it happened some time ago.

It was clearly made in sections, which i have no problem with for a large bronze. You can see the chaplets protruding from the underside, lost wax cast.

Can anyone recommend a reference book for Burmese Buddhist sculpture?

Kindest Regards, Geoff

At the risk of answering my own question,
i'm starting to think this may be Indonesian (Java) in style.

I found a photo on Shutterstock which shows greater resemblance than any Burmese sculpture. Particularly, in the treatment of the shawl. But, i have no reliable reference for this.

As ever i am scratching my head about this sculpture.

I can neither find reliable reference material for Burmese or Indonesian bronze buddhist sculptures.

Geoff

Hi, its not Burmese its from Indonesia probably Java and is of a type which has been made for a long time for the Tourist/Interior decorators market.

Try as hard as I could but I still could not find any reason to believe that this was ever part of a larger statue. It was made as a bust and going by that, as well as the plaster-looking material on the base (which I suppose is the core), my opinion that this is a new work. That may the reason why it is of such a mix of styles.

Yes, i have now searched for Javanese busts, and found a number of similar busts made for the interior decorating market, and just plain fakes. But, they appear generally as quite inferiorly sculpted, and none i have seen have been made in sections. There is no core material present, it is verdigris. Still it could be a fake, though great effort has been made in making it appear correct; the chaplets, the realistic verdigris, made in sections and welded together, the saw marks to the underside. Still could be fake, most fakes are copied in some way from the authentic.
I am glad to have found the correct style, fake or not, Javanese.

Thank you for your time and help.

Geoff

hi Geoff,
Buddhist people venerate the buddha statue as a religious object, to be respected and prayed to. The buddha must not be used as decoration. There are strict rules that must be followed in the making of a buddha sculpture and in all my experience so far, I have never come across a bust that can be considered a proper buddhist object.

I have no idea of what you mean by authentic or fake. Since the bust is simply a decorative piece, what does it matter whether it is a real or fake bust? It cannot be considered as serious buddhist art.

Dear All,

I haven't found too many leads on bronze Buddhas from Java.
I did find some reference in that they share few stylistic similarities to the Javan stone carvings of Buddha.

I still haven't found any reference that i would call 'reliable'.
I've attached another image, with some similarities, claiming to be C16th Javanese.

By my understanding, was making inroads into Indonesia by C13th, and was the dominant religion by late C15th.

All the best,

Geoff

Try 'Divine Bronze - Ancient Indonesian Bronzes' by the Rijksmuseum for a good general overview. Most indonesian bronze Hindu/Buddhist figures where cast before the 11th century with relatively few in the later Hindu Javanese period. After Islam became dominant there would have been no figures cast until interest in the classical art was revived under the Dutch colonial government when copious copies where made - and still are being made.

I love this statue from Nepal.

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