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Re: Four Statues
Posted By: Bill H
Posted Date: Jun 30, 2010 (08:08 PM)
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Hello U Soe Lwin,

I'd hoped to be able to find some additional information in my collection of 'Arts of Asia' magazines, but they and I are in a greater than usual state of disarray due to an ongoing project that requires a considerable devotion of time. So instead I offer just a few impressions of your images, beginning with the Buddhas from the top.

The first one may represent one of the periods at Pagan. which is a subject about which I have little firsthand information. You might be able to verify it by comparison with Buddha images pictured at trocadero.com which has a keyword search capability.

The second is a Shan version of the so-called Jambupati Buddha (I'm sure you know the story but there's lots of other info on-line). The natural looking patina suggests it may have been buried for quite a while. I'd guess it to be 19th century or older based on other Shan bronzes I've seen and handled.

The lower Buddha image usually is called Mandalay style, named for the period before British colonization in the late 19th C., when Burma was ruled from that city. This is a very common style of image that is still made today in Burma and across the border in Thailand. The black color and fairly well defined detail of the upper portion reminds me of a miscast image that was put out somewhere in the elements to age before selling as antique. I can't think of any other reason right offhand for the differences in condition among various parts of this casting.

The last image looks like it comes from India and has a natural looking patina suggestive of a 19th century dating. That's about all I can tell except that such bronzes aren't or at least weren't uncommon in the major cities of Burma, which the British treated as an eastern province of India until granting independence in 1948. Many of the bureaucrats who staffed colonial offices there had been transferred from 'Delhi'.

Good luck,

Bill H.

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