INDONESIA, JAVA, 9TH-10TH CENTURY

This sculpture depicts Vairocana, the cosmic or “Resplendent” buddha, as the principal deity among the Five Cosmic Buddhas. He holds his hands in the gesture of the highest enlightenment, bodhyagrimudra, which signifies his omniscient reign within the universe. He is one of the major buddhas of East Asian Buddhism, due to the popularity of the Avatamsakasutra, where he is personified in the text as the universal truth of the religion.

This figure shares several features to another seated Javanese Vairocana in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1987.142.13). Both exhibit tall and rounded ushnisha crowning their heads and wide set features including forehead, eyes and lips. The end of their dhoti falls drapes over their crossed legs over a base which shows incised stamen along the rim. Two other examples share this treatment to the base (Victoria and Albert Museum, IS.11-1997 and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987.142.21).

Although the robe follows the same general formula of leaving the right shoulder bare, the robe over the left shoulder drape downwards along the body and folds over the forearm in a manner unlike the other examples.