Kingdom of Funan, Vietnam, Mekong Delta, 3rd to 6th AD
Height: 76 cm
Provenance: Yves Prunier collection, Paris 1960s; Yves Prunier (1929-2010), acquired the majority of his collection in Hong Kong and Singapore during the 1980s & 1990s, and in Vietnam prior to the 1970s; Colin Bowles private collection, London; J. Kasmin Collection, London, UK Private collection, acquired directly from the above, 2013
An abstracted and elegantly preserved slender wood figure of the Buddha Sakyamuni, standing on the remnants of a lotus pedestal. The missing right hand probably raised in the abhayamudra (a gesture of reassurance and safety, which dispels fear and grants divine protection) the left possibly holding the hem of his robe.
The usnisha, symbolising the Buddha's enlightenment and spiritual attainment, clearly visible on the head.
Carved from the slow growing tamanu tree this mysterious, evocative and beautiful sculpture owes its survival to a combination of the hardness of the wood and its probable submersion for many centuries in the preservative saturated conditions of the Mekong Delta.
The Funan kingdom of modern day Cambodia extended from the Gulf of Siam to central Vietnam and due to its importance as a flourishing trading area centred on the Mekong Delta and was greatly influenced by the fine Indian art styles of the Gupta period.
Carbon 14 test confirms the dating of this piece
Literature: Museum of Vietnamese History, Ho Chi Minh City, found at Binh Hoa village (Plain of Reeds), Long An Province, Mekong delta.
Arts of Ancient Vietnam: From River Plain to Open Sea, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, see cat no 27
Louis Mallert, L'Archeologie du Delta du Mekong, Vol. 4, Paris: Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient, 1959 - 1963.
Kingdom of Funan, Vietnam, Mekong Delta, 3rd to 6th AD
Height: 76 cm
Provenance: Yves Prunier collection, Paris 1960s; Yves Prunier (1929-2010), acquired the majority of his collection in Hong Kong and Singapore during the 1980s & 1990s, and in Vietnam prior to the 1970s; Colin Bowles private collection, London; J. Kasmin Collection, London, UK Private collection, acquired directly from the above, 2013
An abstracted and elegantly preserved slender wood figure of the Buddha Sakyamuni, standing on the remnants of a lotus pedestal. The missing right hand probably raised in the abhayamudra (a gesture of reassurance and safety, which dispels fear and grants divine protection) the left possibly holding the hem of his robe.
The usnisha, symbolising the Buddha's enlightenment and spiritual attainment, clearly visible on the head.
Carved from the slow growing tamanu tree this mysterious, evocative and beautiful sculpture owes its survival to a combination of the hardness of the wood and its probable submersion for many centuries in the preservative saturated conditions of the Mekong Delta.
The Funan kingdom of modern day Cambodia extended from the Gulf of Siam to central Vietnam and due to its importance as a flourishing trading area centred on the Mekong Delta and was greatly influenced by the fine Indian art styles of the Gupta period.
Carbon 14 test confirms the dating of this piece
Literature: Museum of Vietnamese History, Ho Chi Minh City, found at Binh Hoa village (Plain of Reeds), Long An Province, Mekong delta.
Arts of Ancient Vietnam: From River Plain to Open Sea, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, see cat no 27
Louis Mallert, L'Archeologie du Delta du Mekong, Vol. 4, Paris: Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient, 1959 - 1963.
