figure
- Museum number
- 2004,0401.1
- Description
-
Standing Buddha Śākyamuni cast in a copper-alloy; the right hand (one finger missing) is in abhayamudrā.
- Production date
- 7thC (first half)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 35.50 centimetres
- Location
- On display (G33/dc58a/s2)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
This object is the joint property of the BM and the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was toured in the British regions with other Buddhist sculptures from the BM and the V&A during 2005 and early 2006 at the following venues:
1. Birmingham, dates [Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery]
2. Bradford, 12th Feb-24th Apr, 2005 [Cartwright Hall Art Gallery]
3. Leicester, dates [New Walk Museum]
4 Exeter, until 14th Apr, 2006 [Royal Albert Memorial Museum]
2010 Aug 4-Nov 15, China, Shanghai Museum, 'India: The Art of the Temple'
- Condition
- There are three holes (casting flaws) in the back of the figure and a finger from the right hand is missing. The bronze bears no trace of patination due to burial and with traces of blue colour adhering to the hair area it is clear that this object has been above ground and probably under worship for many centuries.
- Acquisition date
- 2004
- Acquisition notes
- The Buddha sculpture may have been taken from eastern India to the Himalayas soon after its manufacture in the 7th century. It was removed from the Buddhist Himalayas (probably Tibet) in the 1950s or 60s. Its precise findspot and circumstances of acquisition are not known (see von Schroeder 1981, 208). It was first owned by a Belgian yachtsman, George Plouvier of Antwerp, owner of the J-Class Yacht Calabria (a.k.a. Lillas). Plouvier (d. 1972) sold it in 1968 to Baron Frederic (Freddy) Rolin (1919-2001) of Grez-Doiceau, Belgium. Baron Rolin was a collector of ethnographic art and the owner of the recently (early 2004) identified small portrait of a woman by Vermeer. The Buddha was bought in 1982 by Mr Jeff Soreff of New York. It was then sold to Mr George Ortiz, and subsequently purchased jointly by the BM and V&A in March 2004. Information about the past ownership of the Buddha (up to the sale to Mr Soreff) is contained in a letter (on file in the BM Dept of Asia, with the BM Secretariate and with the Asian Dept. of the V&A) from Mlle Marie-Eliane D'Udekem D'Acoz, Rue Victor Greyson 52, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium, dated 7th May 2003.
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2004,0401.1
- Additional IDs
-
Previous owner/ex-collection number: IS 3-2004 (V&A registration number)
