登录
Indonesia. Finely cast seated in bhadrasana atop a tiered lotus throne, his extended feet resting atop a lotus dais, the hands held in dharmachakra mudra, wearing a diaphanous sanghati gracefully draped over his left shoulder and pooling between the legs in a stylized hem. His serene face with heavy-lidded eyes, thick arched brows, raised urna, and full lips, flanked by elongated ears. The hair arranged in tight curls over the domed ushnisha, the figure backed by a large circular halo.
Provenance: From the private collection of Darwin Freeman, collected between 1968 and 1971, and thence by descent within the same family. Born 1946 in Idaho, United States, Darwin Freeman was a member of the armed forces and later became an avid collector. He met his wife in the mid-1960s, and the pair later relocated to her hometown of Innsbruck, Austria. In 1967, Freeman was drafted into the US Army and served in Germany and Thailand. While he was stationed at the Embassy in Bangkok, between 1969 and 1971, he actively began engaging in the exploration and collection of ancient bronzes and other works of art. Upon completing his duty, Freeman arranged for his collection to be shipped to Austria, where it remained in storage until this day.
Condition: Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Wear, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, casting irregularities, and slight warping—mainly to the base and halo. The bronze with a rich, naturally grown patina with vibrant malachite encrustations.
Weight: 1,333 g
Dimensions: Height 16.8 cm
Buddhist art from Indonesia, produced during the 8th and 9th centuries under the patronage of the Shailendra dynasty, reflects a distinctive fusion of regional artistic influences drawn from the Indian subcontinent. The gracefully flowing contours of the body, subtly outlined beneath a diaphanous garment, are reminiscent of the Gupta style from northern India. Additionally, the sloping shoulders and oval face with full cheeks evoke the Buddha images from Sri Lanka's Anuradhapura period, dating to the 7th and 8th centuries. This synthesis of styles highlights the cultural exchange and artistic innovation that characterized the Shailendra period, resulting in works of profound spiritual and aesthetic significance.
There is a large variability of identifications of such Buddhas in bhadrasana in the work of previous scholars, especially art historians. Maria-George Bourda was the first to warn against a certain number of misconceptions regarding this posture which, for many decades, scholars tended to assign exclusively to Maitreya. A more careful examination indeed heavily undermines this fragile identification. There are numerous examples in India where Buddhas in bhadrasana represent various moments in the life of Shakyamuni, prominently the preaching of the First Sermon at Sarnath. This episode is magnificently captured in a famous sculpture found today in the British Museum.
Another clue may be provided by the Buddhas found in the narrow sanctuaries and caves of Maharashtra, western India, which may reflect esoteric concepts. On many occasions, these Buddhas are arranged as the central figure in triads and are surrounded by two standing Bodhisattvas. Over and over again, the central Buddha is seated in bhadrasana, and displays the dharmachakra mudra. In a ground-breaking article published in 1981, John Huntington (1981), attempted to identify the Buddha of the main shrine in cave 6 at Aurangabad, seated in the same posture, with the Jina Vairocana flanked by Padmapa?i and Vajrapa?i, as explained in the garbhadhatuma??ala of the “Mahavairocanasutra” i.e. the Vairocanabhisa?bodhi. The similar iconographic program of the contiguous cave 7 would, according to the same author, be devoted to the vajradhatumandala as developed in the Sarvatathagatatattvasa?graha. For Huntington, in fact, most related Buddhas in the western caves of Maharashtra would reflect not only Vairocana but also at the same time Maitreya, who is reported by him to be the scion of the ‘Buddha family’ in several iconographic systems of the Shingon tradition. Huntington’s working hypothesis, however, remains unproven and largely speculative.
From this brief iconological survey, it appears that the posture under study is not exclusively reserved for one Buddha or another. Positive identification of such Buddhas in bhadrasana remains problematic, therefore, unless backed by inscriptions. Indeed, Vairocana preaching the universal truth on top of Mount Meru, like Maitreya governing the future realm of Ketumati on earth, can be iconographically identical to Shakyamuni in the scene of the First Sermon at Sarnath. After all, any Buddha (as well as Jina or Tathagata for that purpose) remains a Buddha, conveying the ideals of his special characteristics (laksana), no matter whether he is a figure of the past, the present, or the future, historical or transcendental. But perhaps there is also an intentional plurality of meaning, allowing for various exoteric and esoteric interpretations.
For further information, see Griffiths Arlo, Revire Nicolas, Sanyal Rajat, ‘An Inscribed Bronze Sculpture of a Buddha in bhadrasana at Museum Ranggawarsita in Semarang (Central Java, Indonesia)’, Arts Asiatiques, tome 68, 2013, pp. 3-26.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related Central Javanese bronze figure of the enthroned Buddha, dated circa 8th century, in the Tokyo National Museum, collection reference number TC-746. Compare a related, slightly smaller bronze figure of Buddha Vairochana, dated to the 9th century, Java, 13 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1987.142.14. Compare a closely related, slightly smaller Central Javanese bronze figure of the enthroned Buddha, 11.5 cm high, dated 8th-9th century, in the Wereldmuseum Leiden, inventory number 1403-2845.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Zacke Vienna, 10 April 2025, lot 261
Price: EUR 7,800 or approx. EUR 8,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A fine and rare bronze figure of the enthroned Buddha, Central Java, late 8th-mid 9th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject, dating, size, pose, tiered throne, and curls of the hair. Note the missing halo and the size (14.4 cm)
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