A gilt-bronze figure of seated Buddha, Tang dynasty

English Private Collection, by repute.

The Buddha is cast with the right hand in the abhaya mudra, a powerful gesture meant to dispel fear. In the Jataka tale of Nalagiri charging Siddhartha, the envious Devadatta plies the white elephant with alcohol and unleashes the beast in Siddhartha's path. The Buddha calms the raging elephant with a solemn raise of his hand in this gesture. This particular mudra was often included in depictions of the Buddha from the Northern and Southern to Tang dynasties. 

The present figure is notable for its relatively large size. Compare figures illustrated in Saburo Matsubara, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture: A Study Based on Bronze and Stone Statues other than from Cave Temples, Tokyo, 1966, pls 266d and 294a. Another example with the drapery cast in a similar manner was exhibited in Airashiki Hotoke Tachi: Chugoku, Kankoku, Nihon. Higashi Asia no Kondo Butsu / Special Exhibition: Gilt Bronze Buddhist Statues from East Asia, Yamato Bunkakan, Nara, 1999, cat. no. 34, and sold in these rooms, 21st September 2006, lot 117. A smaller figure, with similarly cast hair whorls and treatment of drapery, was formerly in the collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, and sold at Christie's New York, 20th March 2015, lot 759. See also a gilt-bronze Buddha figure included in The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom: Special Exhibition Catalogue of the Buddhist Bronzes from the Nitta Group Collection at the National Palace Museum, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1987, cat. no. 76. A slightly larger example with the face cold-gilded and hair applied with blue pigment is in the Potala Palace Collection, Lhasa (Li ma lha khang inventory no. 953), illustrated in Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, pls 341C-D.