Bouddha en position bumisparsha mudra enb ronze anciennement laqué et doré - Sculpture - Laos

Buddha in the earth-touching mudra position

Laos
18th century

The Buddha is depicted seated on a high tiered pedestal in the sattvaparyanka position. The right leg rests on the left leg, with the right hand placed on the knee in the bumisparsha mudra (earth-touching gesture), fingers pointing towards the ground, and the left hand placed in the lap, palm facing the sky. The body features broad shoulders and a chest inflated with the breath of meditation. The enlightened one is dressed in the sangathi and the uttarasangha, pressed directly onto the body, leaving the right shoulder uncovered. A piece of cloth is draped over the left shoulder, extending towards the navel.
The face with great interiority is typical of Lao statuary: eyes with half-closed eyelids topped by perfectly rounded eyebrow arches, a long aquiline nose in the shape of an eagle's beak overlooking a mouth with thin lips forming a broad smile, and a neck displaying beauty folds. The skull is covered with numerous small bumps and crowned at its summit by the ushnisha (cranial protuberance) from which a high rasmi in the shape of a lotus bud emerges. The pointed ears with long, distended lobes curving outward, and the ear pavilion shaped like a snail shell.

The depiction of our Buddha is part of the classic images in Buddhist statuary canon and refers to a particular episode in the life of the Enlightened One. As he nears achieving Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, Mara, the god of unceasing desires, seeks to distract the Boddhisattva and claims the throne of Awakening for himself. Faced with Mara's repeated assaults, the Buddha remains impassive and, through this symbolic gesture, takes the Earth as witness to his resolve to attain complete Enlightenment.

Ancient bronze formerly lacquered and gold-plated
23.4 x 11.4 cm
Wear and tear
Private collection