Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 18. (Budapest, 1999)

Tatjana KARDOS: Buddha Statuette with votive inscription from Laos

TATJANA KARDOS BUDDHA STATUETTE WITH VOTIVE INSCRIPTION FROM LAOS The 16 cm high wooden statuette painted in bright yellow was borrowed the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts from its collector for the exhibition of Southeast Asian Buddhist Art. During the conservation work preceding the exhibition the restaurateur at the Museum discovered that there were traces of the original gold paint under the yellow, so he asked the permission of the collector to remove this layer of paint. It had been then discovered that four metallic plates had earlier been nailed to the pedestal and that two of them were still in place. The yellow paint was removed and the statuette was placed in the imitation cave-temple in the exhibition, together with several votive statuettes.' The statuette depicting the historical Buddha is carved from a piece of hardwood approximately ten centimetres in diameter. It is seated on an undecorated pedestal in vïrâsana posture; the hands are in the gesture of meditation (samädhi mudra). Were it not for the inscription, we should have no means of knowing that the image represents Buddha Sakyamuni rather than a Disciple. It has neither curls, nor usnTsa. The facial features bear witness to the work of a rural master; the ears cling to the neck, and the half-closed eyes are symbolized by two incised lines. The smile is kind rather than transfigured. The left shoulder is covered, the right is bare, and the shawl, folded into a narrow stole, is laid over the left