The Buddha Gallery

I’ve kept these three together for a long time because they somehow belong together in my mind, even though they’re all different. The two smaller pieces are carved quartz pendants...

This is a form I’ve only come across a few times over the years. Two Buddhist monks seated back-to-back, probably Himalayan — Bhutan or Nepal would make the most sense to me, though...

I’ve always liked old Chinese carvings of the “Hand of the Buddha” citron. Such an odd fruit to turn into a sculpture in the first place. Somewhere between a hand, a flower, and som...

This is one of the hardest pieces I’ve tried to explain to people. When I first saw it, I honestly thought it was just an old piece of driftwood or some naturally worn fragment. The...

Fierce, energetic, protective, dear from Nepal, cast in bronze it projects, powerful presence.The face has a good intensity to it without feeling exaggerated, and the casting overa...

Nice quality Tibetan prayer will. Solid construction with good weight and excellent balance, this piece has honest age. It is better quality than the vast majority of these on the ma...

19th century bronze Quan Yin with a child attendant, both with remarkably good faces for the size-both expressions still feel alive and very natural....

19thC/earlier Korean bronze Bodhisattva. Calm expression, nicely shaped eyes, energetic, flowing stance I’ve learned over time that with these little bronzes, the face and the flow ...

This little bronze has an incredible amount going on for something so small. 18th/19th century Hindu dancing figure, still sitting on its original base with the naga hood behind it,...

The Buddha itself is beautifully calm and understated, especially compared to the more elaborate base beneath it. I like the contrast between the quietness of the figure and the hea...

A smallThai crowned Buddha, probably somewhere between the 16th and 18th century, cast with an incredible amount of control for such a small figure. Most miniatures lose something ...

I’ve had a lot of Thai Buddhas pass through my hands over the years, but this little walking Sukhothai has stayed one of my personal favorites. 13th/14th century, made of clay and s...

I’ve always liked old Tibetan clay tablets because they feel closer to prayer than to sculpture. These examples, probably 18th/19th century or perhaps earlier, are filled with rows ...

I’ve always liked Mongolian clay figures because they tend to feel very direct. Less polished than their Tibetan counterparts sometimes, but often more human because of it. This lit...

I’m not completely sure what alloy this figure is made from — possibly leaded bronze or some other mixed metal — but the surface is what immediately pulled me in. There’s a deep red...

This Buddha confused me a little at first. When I first got it, I was fairly convinced it was Burmese. The face, the proportions, even parts of the surface all pointed me in that di...

This little bronze has been handled for a very long time. An early Indian Hindu figure, only about 3.75 inches tall, with the kind of ritual wear that slowly softens everything down...

This Bodhisattva appears to be early 20th century, Tibetan or Chinese Tibetan, and has a very balanced, settled feeling to it. The face is calm and thoughtful, and the proportions...

There’s a refinement to good Northern Thai Buddhas that’s hard to explain until you’ve handled enough of them. This one is 16th century and cast from a very high-quality alloy that ...

I found these two Quan Yin figures especially difficult to photograph well because so much of what makes them interesting is in the surface and workmanship. They’re terracotta, prob...

I’ve always been drawn to these early Burmese clay votives, especially the larger ones that were clearly meant for a shrine or temple setting rather than personal wear. This example is pre-Pagan to my eye, or at least very early Burmese, and probably getting close to 1000 years old. The face and proportions have that directness the earliest Burmese devotional objects sometimes carry — simple, almost severe at first, but very compelling once you spend time with them. What I especially like here is the scale. Most surviving votives of this type are much smaller and heavily worn down. This one still retains a surprising amount of presence and definition. The clay surface has aged beautifully too. Softened naturally over time, with just enough remaining detail to keep pulling your eye back into the figure. I’ve handled quite a few Burmese votives...

I’ve always thought the Pyu pieces carried a very different feeling from later Burmese Buddhist art. Simpler in some ways, but often much more immediate. This votive is a good examp...

I bought a small group of these in Northern Thailand sometime in the early 1990s. They were literally being pulled out of a sack filled with excavated Burmese votives...

9/10thC Dvarati Buddha Tablet. I believe this one is quite old and it’s probably a period piece . The surface appears to have very good age, but with buried objects that only tells...

19th century or earlier bronze Buddha-Himalayan foothills? Southern China? The shape is what keeps drawing me back to it. The body, the proportions, the head — everything feels sl...

18thC Sri Lanka solid cast gilded Kandy style standing Buddha Excellent condition. This is a classic type of Sri Lankan Buddha, which closelyfollows ...

I’ve always had a soft spot for these Northern Thai “Buddha in Royal Attire” figures, especially the smaller ones. This example is only about 2 5/8 inches tall, but it has a surpris...

I’ve always found Tsong-kha-pa figures recognizable almost immediately, even when they’re very small. There’s something about the tall pointed hat and the composed, intellectual feel...

This is a 19th to early 20th century Vietnamese wooden monk figure, carved from a single solid piece of very hard, dense hardwood and finished with richly aged polychrome pigments. T...

16thCThai Bronze Buddha with all the qualities that make these figures so appealing to live with. The face is calm and inward looking, the proportions feel balanced, and the surfa...

This charming solid cast silver Buddha dates to the 17th to 18th century and is a fine example of Cambodian devotional metalwork in miniature form. The figure is seated in meditation...

This antique Ganesh figure is a deeply evocative work marked by strong personality and clear signs of long-standing devotional use. Carved with confidence and warmth, the sculpture c...

This antique pottery figure represents Li Jing, the legendary guardian figure traditionally depicted carrying a pagoda imbued with magical power. Likely of Chinese or Tibetan origin ...

This rare Thai bronze Buddha dates to the 15th century and is cast in the distinctive U-Thong style, a tradition celebrated for its expressive faces and powerful presence. Though mea...

I don’t think I’ve ever come across another group quite like this. Seven matched early Chinese clay Bodhisattvas, probably pre-Tang and somewhere in the range of 1,500 years old. Fi...

This Mongolian Bodhisattva has one of the happiest expressions I’ve seen in a long time. Late 19th to early 20th century, with that distinctive style of gilding Mongolia used during...

I bought this largely because of the face. It’s an old copper repoussé plaque of a deity, probably Himalayan, and it has the kind of expression that immediately pulls your attention...

I picked this up originally because the lion made me laugh a little. It’s an old Chinese scroll weight, probably 18th or 19th century, solid ca...

I’ve always liked when functional objects were given just as much attention as purely devotional sculpture, and this old Indian oil lamp is a good example of that. The female figure...

I’ve spent years quietly picking up these tiny Southern Thai bronzes whenever I could find them, which wasn’t often. This one is only about 2 inches tall, yet fully carries the feel...

This little Garuda has an incredible amount of personality for such a small early bronze. Probably 14th/15th century India, worn almost completely ...

This little guardian has a lot more energy to it than most figures of this size. Probably Tang dynasty in style, though I suspect it may be somewhat later. Even so, it clearly comes...

This little monk came from that same old Japanese family collection of miniature Chinese bronzes I’ve mentioned before — a fascinating group because no two pieces were exactly alike,...

I’ve gone through a surprising number of small Tang bronzes over the years, and the face is usually the first thing to disappear on them. That’s part of what drew me to this one imme...

This is another piece from that old Japanese family collection of miniature Chinese bronzes I’ve been slowly going through over the years. The collection clearly wasn’t assembled all...

I’ve always had a weakness for these small early Chinese bronzes, especially the ones where the sculptor understood how to use open space as part of the design. This standing bodhis...

This finely cast Chinese bronze figure dates to the Tang dynasty period or slightly later and retains attractive remnants of original gilding across the surface. The figure is shown ...

This refined Chinese bronze figure stylistically, dates to the Tang dynasty period or later and represents a standing bodhisattva rendered in an elegant, openwork composition. The fi...

I’ve never come across another story quite like the one attached to these little Sri Lankan Buddhas. They were reportedly unearthed around 1900 by th...

This may be the oldest object I’ve ever offered. A solid-cast Bronze Age elephant, reduced down almost to pure form through time and age. At first glance it feels incredibly simple,...

Very early Chinese Buddhas have a completely different feeling from the later, more refined dynastic pieces. Simpler in some ways, but often much more direct. This small example, pr...

I’ve owned this carving for around twenty years, which probably says more about what I think of it than anything else I could write. It’s done in the old Indonesian Majapahit style ...

There’s a reason the classic Sukhothai Buddhas became so influential. When they’re done well, they carry a kind of effortless calm that later styles often struggle to recreate. This...

I’ve spent years looking for truly successful miniature Thai bronzes, and most of them fall short in one way or another. Once figures get down to this size, the faces usually become...

I remember when pieces like this still surfaced with some regularity. Now it feels like genuinely good Mongolian repoussé Buddhas have almost disappeared from the marketplace. This ...

This tapestry surprised me more than almost any piece I’ve bought in recent years. When I first acquired it, the entire image looked darkened and subdued to the point that I almost ...

A solid-cast female Bodhisattva torso, possibly from Western Thailand or Cambodia, possibly from Srivajaya, somewhere in the 6th–8th century Prakhon Chai world, peninsula, Thailan...

Dating somewhere around the 11th–13th century, it has a remarkable balance of strength and refinement. The proportions are especially satisfying in person — tall, slightly restrain...

It was hard to capture the beauty and quality of this piece in photos A solid-cast Burmese Ava-style figure, probably 14th–16th century, seated beneath a stylized Bodhi tree with an...

One of my all-time favorites out of more than 10 thousand of Buddhas I have owned over the past 3+ decades. I believe this is a transitional piece that is late-Pyu and contemporary with the Pagan period, although I have never seen another like it. See attached Oxford TL test which dates it at up to 800 years old. YES- it really IS that green-the photos are accurate. Probably the ones that show the color the closest are the one with the ruler in it, and the two showing the recently made custom base. The two with the base were taken with a different camera. It is extremely large for its type. I've had several experts who have been amazed by this piece, as they have studied and collected Burmese sculpture...