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Subject:Re: 17 century Burma Buddha head
Posted By: Bill H Sat, Mar 29, 2014
Your Buddha head is stylistically "Shan" (the Tai people who live in Burma), and has hair like the rind of durian, a pungent spiked fruit common in Southeast Asia. From what can be seen of it in your photo, the head appears to be of dry lacquer, which (except for possibly carved ears) was molded of layers of lacquered cloth.
I've included here a full photo and facial detail of a 4.3" tall seated dry lacquer Shan Buddha from Burma, obtained about 30 years ago and estimated by my own research to date to the 18th-early 19th century. As can be seen, the usnisha (bump on head) has been given a new cosmetic wooden spike. Your Buddha head may have a hole where the spike went missing.
As to whether the head you're considering is authentic or not, the best way to find out would be to have it carbon-dated. Unfortunately you'd probably have to buy it first to find out. Conventional wisdom holds that certificates of authenticity provided by most Hong Kong dealers can usually be dismissed as of suspect validity, even though they might contain claimed carbon-dating results.
Any other evidence of authenticity I can think of would also require handling. Presuming the piece is dry lacquer as I suspect, some of its cloth material (often woven hemp) should be visible at the breaks and elsewhere. The lacquer itself usually contains fillers, such as ash, powdered seashells, clay and the likes (see link for more on dry lacquer). Otherwise I don't see anything glaring to make me think your head isn't an antique with some gilt restoration. However, whether or not it dates the to the 1600's will require much deeper inspection to answer.
Good Luck,
Bill H.
URL Title :DryLacquer
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17 century Burma Buddha head 
( China & Japan ) - Bita - Mar 28, 2014 (06:47 AM) 
