Shakyamuni Buddha Statue in Copper

Description

Shakyamuni buddha statue in copper: settled, present, immediately at home. The surface, hand-burnished and selectively patinated, holds warm tones that distinguish cast copper from brass or resin. A figure that commands a room without asking for it.

Shakyamuni, born Siddhartha Gautama near Lumbini in present-day Nepal, is the historical Buddha and the founding teacher of the Buddhist tradition. Copper statuary in this form follows the iconographic canon established in Pala period Bengal and Bihar, later transmitted through Nepal. The craft of lost-wax copper casting has been practiced continuously in the Kathmandu Valley by Newar artisans for over a thousand years. Proportions, hand gesture, and posture conform to strict iconometric rules governing sculptural representation.

Available in two sizes: a smaller figure suited to a desk or shelf, and a larger format as a room’s anchor piece. The smaller typically stands twelve to fifteen centimeters; the larger, twenty-five to thirty centimeters. Copper is hand-finished after casting: seams filed, surface burnished to reveal the metal’s grain, cold patina applied selectively to recessed areas to deepen iconographic detail. Weight is substantive, a quality that distinguishes hand-cast copper from resin reproductions. The larger figure will require a firm, level surface.

Shakyamuni Buddha statue in copper. Hand-cast using lost-wax method by Newar artisans, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Available in two sizes: small (approximately 12-15 cm height) and large (approximately 25-30 cm height). Hand-burnished surface with selective cold patina. Iconometric proportions following traditional canon.

Cast to outlast the room it enters. Newar workshop craft, unbroken for centuries. The defining form of the historical Buddha.