Seated Buddha

Buddha images similar to this one can be seen in mid-1800s monasteries on Inle Lake in the Shan state of Burma. The unusual features of these images include the highly stylized representation of robe folds as raised curves and countercurves, and the presence on the upper left arm of a long vertical rectangle.

This image is now missing the finial that would once have projected from the top of the head; there is a hole into which a finial must originally have fitted.

The base of the image, with its narrowing and then broadening steps, reflects the structure of Burmese royal thrones, for example the Lion Throne formerly in the palace of Mandalay. In Southeast Asian Buddhist beliefs such thrones situate the Buddha or king at an exalted level on the axis of the world.