KHMER, BAYON STYLE, LATE 12TH/EARLY 13TH CENTURY

Details

A Bronze Figure of Buddha Muchalinda
Khmer, Bayon Style, late 12th/early 13th Century
Very finely cast with Buddha seated on the coiled naga over a barbed base, wearing a tightly fitted dhoti and with the naga rising to form a seven-headed hood above him, the hood separately cast and with intricately incised scales
5¾ in. (14.5 cm.) high

Provenance

Pan-Asian Collection

Lot Essay

When a storm raged and torrential rain poured for a whole week, the king of the nagas, Muchalinda, rose from the earth, coiling its body to form a seat and swelling its great hood to shelter Buddha.
The present example includes an unusual barbed plinth and is exceptionally crisply cast; compare with two other examples in G. Coed/ges, Bronzes Khmers, 1923, plate XXI, figs 1 and 2; and with a larger bronze sold at Christie's New York, 20 March 2002, lot 11.

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