Large lacquered wooden Buddha, Myanmar (Burma), Shan, 17th-18th century

Large lacquered wooden Buddha
Myanmar (Burma), Shan
17th-18th century
Height 166 cm, width approx. 73 cm

Approximately life-size meditating Buddha in jambhupati style (in royal regalia, richly decorated with hoops, his chest adorned with garlands of flowers). Unusually, he performs the Bhūmisparsśa mudra (gesture of touching the earth) with both hands instead of with the right hand alone.
The Buddha is mostly painted red, but also shows traces of black-brown paint and repairs as well as rubbed off traces of gilding, which testifies to its long cult use, but also gives it a very elegant patina.
Four iron handles were originally mounted on the plinth so that it could be carried during processions; three of these are still in place.
The royal representation of the Buddha in Myanmar achieved great popularity in the 18th century, starting in Rakhaing, which borders India. It is rooted in a Pali text about King Jambusara, whom the Buddha is said to have prevented from annexing Ràjagaha (now Rajgir in Bihar) by receiving him sitting on a jewelled throne in royal regalia and impressing him so much that Jambusara followed
him passionately from then on.