The Burmese temple city of Pagan underwent a spectacular flowering during the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. To embellish the city's numerous brick temples, Buddhist images were created in paint, metal, stone, and wood. Only a small group of figures from Pagan relating to this crowned Buddha survives.
The figure is remarkable for its good condition. Originally lacquered and gilded, its surface still carries traces of lacquer, which no doubt helped preserve it from rot and termites. Its halo of vegetal motifs is almost intact. Only a lower portion of the robe and the lotus pedestal are missing.
The thin, almost abstract rendering of Buddha's body is emphasized by attenuated arms and hands. The lowered hand makes an iconic gesture indicating the granting of a wish, while the raised hand holds the end of his robe or perhaps a sacred text. In marked contrast to the unornamented body, the Buddha's jeweled collar, earrings, crown, tall coiffure, and foliate halo give the image a surprising weight and particularity.
Images of the historical Sakyamuni usually depict a simple mendicant clad in a monk's robe, but this figure's elaborate ornamentation may indicate that it is an idealized portrait of deceased royalty. The kings of Pagan left inscriptions that reveal their expectations of rebirth as Buddhas in the Buddhist heavens; hence this carving may represent a royal ancestor crowned and bejeweled as he was on earth. The apparent interest in individualizing facial features of the group of carved Pagan Buddhas may support this interpretation.
The radiocarbon dating has been calculated to 1168-1400 CE. (Brown 2013, Artibus Asiae 73:1, pp. 222-224, 229, fig. 5)
