Showing posts with label Bagan. Show all posts

Object - Standing Buddha,
Period - Pagan, 12th–13th century
Place of Origin - Burma
Materials - Bronze with silver inlay
Dimension - H. 19 7/8 in. (50.5 cm)
Current Location - The Metropolitan Museum of Art,

Note : Gift of Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation, 1993 (1993.235.1)

Although the Buddha's image is a frontal and static one, here the proportions of the figure and facial type have been altered to reflect local tastes. The head is unusually large and the hips wide. The body is highly conceptualized and has lost a close correspondence with the human form. The size of the head, width of the shoulders, and taper of the legs have all become exaggerated. The face is almost heart-shaped, with a broad forehead, wide eyes, long nose, upturned mouth, square jaw, and small chin. The monastic robes cling to the body and flare outward from the forearms. The robes do not resemble real fabric but instead cling to the Buddha as if they were transparent, revealing the upper hem of the skirt and the robust forms of the upper body. The Buddha makes the gesture of protection with his right hand and, in his left, holds the folded hem of his outer robe. The work is typical of sculptures produced in the Burmese Buddhist kingdom of Pagan, which was founded in the mid-eleventh century.

Burmese Votive Tablets by Dr. Richard M. Cooler

The most numerous and, perhaps, the most intimate objects from the Pagan period are the clay votive tablets that were stamped out and signed by many kings and nobles. The creation of these tablets, each displaying at least one image of the Buddha and some including over 100 images, was thought to produce good merit for its maker. The incentive for their creation is not in doubt, like so much concerning the Pagan Period, because many donors wrote and signed their intentions on the back of the tablet. King Anawratha’s tablets state that “This Buddha was made, with his own hands, by Sri Maharaja Aniruddhadeva, with the object of emancipation [i.e. gaining Nirvanna]”. Anawratha’s tablets had his tablets inserted into religious foundations throughout his kingdom.

The face of the tablet often displays a Buddha in bhumisparsa mudra seated within a temple that is similar to the one constructed at Bodhgaya, India, where the Buddha achieved enlightenment. Two lines of Sanskrit in North Indian characters of the 10^th to 11^th centuries is often imprinted below the Buddha images. This is a statement of the Buddhist creed in its most compressed and basic form: “The Buddha hath the causes told, Of all things springing from causes, And also how things cease to be, Tis this the Mighty Monk proclaims”.

Although the use of votive tablets at Pagan continued a tradition that originated in India and some tablets found in the two countries are identical, it is clear that votive plaques were created at Pagan because bronze and clay molds have been discovered there. Also, the Pagan donors signed many of the plaques in script.

Verso writing states

tablet made by King Anawratha’s

wife, Oueen Chipe

Ref: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/burmese/Cooler/Chapter_3/Part4/Images/pagan_period_4.htm

Object - Votive plaque

Materials -Terracotta
Techniques - Impressed
Place of origin - Pagan , Burma ( Myanmar )

Current Location - British Museum

Date - 13thC

Dimensions - Height: 19.5 centimetres

Description
Votive plaque. Buddha beneath a triple arch and a parasol, in the earth-touching gesture. The tree is shown by branches with the Bodhi leaf. The small surrounding Buddhas in pearled niches with indications of a tree above and around them are a series of twenty-eight predecessors of the 'historical' Buddha. Two ‘stūpas’ fill spaces at the top, and a line of Burmese characters runs at the bottom of the impression. Inscribed with Burmese characters. Made of impressed terracotta.

Inscriptions
Inscription Type: inscription
Inscription Script: Burmese
Inscription Position: bottom
Inscription Comment: A line of Burmese characters runs at the bottom of the impression.

Curator's comments
Zwalf 1985

Another example of Burmese votive plaques of Indian type shows the Buddha beneath a triple arch and a parasol, in the earth-touching gesture associated with Bodh Gayā. The tree is shown by branches with the unmistakable Bodhi leaf. The small surrounding Buddhas in pearled niches with indications of a tree above and around them are a series of twenty-eight predecessors of the 'historical' Buddha. Two ‘stūpas’ fill spaces at the top, and a line of Burmese characters runs at the bottom of the impression.

Here , one more votive tablet from Harvard Art Museum. This is very similar to the votive from Victoria & Albert Museum, so I believe need not to describe. I saw 3 line of script at the bottom of votive and if anyone could add more information, please feel free to left comments.



Votive Plaque Depicting Seated Buddha, 12th Century
Harvard Art Museum/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Max Loehr, 1964.2

For full informations about this statue please click on below

http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe

Pagan, the most important historical site in Burma, lies within a major bend of the Irrawaddy River where its east-west course turns and flows south. This capitol city, constructed entirely on the left bank of the river, is in the most arid part of the dry zone of Central Burma. Founded at sometime before the 9th century AD, Pagan was the capitol of the first Burmese kingdom from the 11th-14th centuries after its first great ruler, King Anawrahta, politically consolidated all of central Burma by conquering both the Pyu and the Mon peoples. Art and Architecture flourished during the Pagan Period and classic models were established that were copied by later kingdoms

Bagan (Pagan)is my favourite part & I HAVE SO MANY PICTURES/INFO/THESES/NOTES AND ...