Burmese Mandalay Painted & Gilded Marble Reclining Buddha

This image of the reclining Buddha has been well-carved from a single piece of white marble and then colored with red and black pigments, and gold leaf. It shows the Buddha reclining on his right side, with his head resting on his hand and upper body resting on a bolster. There are ample and elegantly carved robe folds. The Buddha has a a rounded cranial protuberance or usnisha. His eyes are open.

Overall, the sculpture is well-carved, beautifully proportioned and has a grey-yellow patina consistent with significant age and also with having been in the UK for a long time.

Reclining Buddha images from Burma are of two types. One type shows the Buddha resting (as is the case here) with the right handing propping up the head and the eyes open. The other type (parinibbana) shows the Buddha dying, with the eyes closed or barely open, and the head resting on a pillow.

Buddha images carved from marble largely were carved in Mandalay, and the two main sources of marble came from two quarries – one in the Sagyin Hills, north of Mandalay, and the other near Kyauk-hse, to Mandalay’s south. Marble was used in religious sculpture in the area since at least the 17th century.

The image has been mounted on a custom-made, black stand.