Gilded wood standing Buddha, Burma (Myanmar), Mandalay style – 127 cm

Standing Buddha, carved in solid wood on a lotiform base, Burma, early Mandalay period, mid-19th century.

• His posture is natural, and his serene face reveals a slight smile. The eyes are made of glass for realism.
• Provenance: Estate of the dealer and collector Claude de Marteau.
• Sold with certificate of origin
• H 122 cm x W 55 cm x D 15 cm
• Without square base: H 107 cm
• A crack on the flap of the dress and a small missing hand (normal wear, period restoration): Price has been adjusted.
• We have a very limited number of these pieces, all from the same period and provenance.

A large standing Buddha in Mandalay style

This impressive Buddha statue in carved, lacquered and gilded wood illustrates the refinement of Burmese art at the beginning of the Mandalay period, in the mid-19th century. Carved from a single trunk with its lotus-form base, it reflects the remarkable craftsmanship of workshops in Burma (Myanmar), whose large religious figures were intended for monasteries, Buddhist temples, or the residences of high dignitaries.

The standing Buddha adopts a posture of great elegance. The slight sway of the hips, serene face and subtle smile express the ideal of calm and compassion sought by Burmese sculptors. The glass eyes, intended to enhance the sculpture’s spiritual presence, are a feature often found in high-quality works from this period.

The myrobalan fruit, symbol of the Healing Buddha

The left hand delicately holds the monastic robe (uttarāsaṅga), while the right hand presents a myrobalan fruit. This iconography refers to the Healing Buddha, whose healing power is celebrated in Buddhist traditions across Asia. This detail sets this Buddha statue apart from the more common depictions of the standing Buddha in abhaya mudrā or varada mudrā.

The decorative richness of Burmese sculpture

Like the finest works of the Mandalay style, this piece is entirely lacquered and then gilded. Its surface is enhanced with glass inlays that catch the light and highlight the folds of the robe as well as the ornamental elements. This taste for shimmering decoration characterizes much of 19th-century Burmese religious production and gives these sculptures an exceptional presence.

Provenance: Claude de Marteau collection

This wooden Buddha statue comes from the estate of dealer and collector Claude de Marteau, whose collection brought together several hundred major works devoted to the arts of the Himalayas and Southeast Asia. It is sold with its certificate of provenance.

An old crack visible in a section of the robe, as well as a small loss at the hand—corresponding to an old restoration—attest to its history. These signs of wear, fully taken into account in the evaluation of the piece, in no way detract from the quality of this remarkable monumental sculpture from Burma (Myanmar).

Archival photographs of Claude de Marteau of standing Mandalay Buddhas currently for sale on our site