A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA NEPAL, 17TH CENTURYA GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHANEPAL, 17TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no. 4739 30.3 cm (11 7/8 in.) high尼泊爾 十七世紀 銅鎏金釋迦牟尼像The soft demeanor of this seated Buddha with his gaze held in spacious equanimity together with his right hand touching the base, recalls the moment when the earth was called to pay witness to his enlightenment. While the lotus base with its separately cast lower half affixed on the interior is typical of Nepalese conventions during the 17th century, its modelling echoes earlier prototypes of Pala designs blended with those of East Asian fashions. The robes laid across the chest with a fishtail pleat placed high over his left shoulder and the beaded and foliated decorations at the hemline reference an early Malla style adapted from the Pala influences coming from India, as epitomized in a 13th century Vajrasana Buddha image from the Early Malla period (see Bonhams, New York, 23 September 2020, lot 611). The robe, specifically where it drapes over the right shoulder, is a detail more commonly seen in Chinese Buddhist bronzes produced during the 15th century of the Ming dynasty. For examples see an example published in, Buddhist Statues of Tibet, 2003, p. 235, no. 224, another sold at Sotheby's, Paris, 15 December 2016, lot 129, and a third which derives from early Chinese aesthetics associated with the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-77), as illustrated on a seated Buddha image published in Watt, China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 2004, fig. 89.