Late 18th Century Gilt Bronze Pu-Tai 'Laughing Buddha', Thailand

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Late 18th Century Gilt Bronze Pu-Tai 'Laughing Buddha', Thailand

About the Item

Thai sculptors have created a sacred art full of richness and incomparable beauty. Impressed with a harmonious realism, these works, full of fervor and a deep sense of life, are also recommended by their natural expression. The lovable fat, happy, laughing Buddha represents the ideals of good health, wealth, happiness, prosperity and longevity. He is known as Pu-Tai (Chinese) or Hotai (Japanese). He is lovingly referred to as the Happy Buddha, Laughing Buddha or the Buddha of Wealth. The Laughing Buddha is based on an historical figure of an obese Zen monk who wandered China during the Laing Dynasty. He was known for carrying a sack of candy, which he gave to children on the street. People believed that he was an incarnation of the Maitreya Buddha. The short hairstyle, distinctly delimited on the forehead, clears ears and roundness of the face in refined traits. The eyebrow forming an arch and his almond-shaped perlaceous eyes incised in the material and filled with nacre, contrast with the relief of the nose and the mouth with the delicate lips with a smile of beatitude expressing all the devotion of this laughing Buddha and the happiness of contemplation. He is dressed in the traditional monastic dress, which bare the right shoulder, and which falls into a stole from the left shoulder on the front and back. Following an iconographic rule set up at the end of the Ayuthya period, the garment is entirely embroidered and trimmed with stripes. Thus, the body molded in this dress without fold covered with a thousand flowers and enhanced with golden lacquer, evokes the irradiant luminescence emanating from Buddha. Art of Thailand Late 18th century, Rattanakosin Kingdom Gilded bronze.

Dimensions:
Height: 18.12 in (46 cm)Width: 18.12 in (46 cm)Depth: 12.21 in (31 cm)
Style:
Other (In the Style Of)
Materials and Techniques:
Bronze,Cast,Gilt,Patinated
Place of Origin:
Thailand
Period:
Late 18th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1790
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Central Hong-Kong, HK
Reference Number:
Seller: LS781stDibs: LU255436695263