Antique Alabaster Shan Buddha Statue

Antique Alabaster Shan Buddha Statue

AGE: – 18th – 19th Century
HEIGHT: – 49cm
WIDTH: – 24cm
DEPTH: – 13cm
#61 PRICE: CONTACT

Antique Alabaster Shan Buddha Statue sitting on a high narrow-waisted double lotus pedestal, with hand gesture in bhumisparsa mudra (touching earth). The face on this statue shows a childlike appearance with painted eyes, fingernails and urna.

The urna, is a distinctive mark traditionally depicted on the forehead of Buddha images, holds profound symbolic significance in Buddhist art and culture. This spiral or circular dot, known as ūrṇā in Sanskrit and uṇṇa in Pali, represents an auspicious mark and is one of the thirty-two major marks of a great person (mahāpuruṣa) according to Buddhist texts.

Often thought to be a whorl of hair, the urna symbolizes the Buddha’s wisdom and spiritual insight, embodying the enlightened mind that sees beyond the mundane universe of suffering. It is a visual representation of the Buddha’s ability to see past our ordinary reality and into the divine world, a concept that is sometimes likened to the third eye.

The urna is not merely a decorative element; it’s a powerful emblem of the Buddha’s transcendent knowledge. In some artistic representations, it is depicted as emitting rays of light, illustrating the Buddha’s radiant wisdom that illuminates the path to enlightenment for all beings. This mark is a reminder of the potential for inner awakening that lies within each individual.

The presence of the urna in Buddhist iconography serves as a beacon of hope and spiritual guidance. It is a symbol that encourages followers to cultivate wisdom and understanding, to look within and beyond the apparent reality, and to aspire to a state of enlightenment that the Buddha attained.

Buddha statues from the Shan State can be extremely ornate with crowns, flanges, and glass mosaics, decorated with Thayo lacquer, or unadorned, wearing a simple monk’s robe as this one is. Most Burmese statues of this age have been re-gilded more than once or painted with a reddish-coloured lacquer used extensively in Myanmar as a base coat before gilding.

The Shan State is the largest in Myanmar with approximately nine primary ethnic groups, with the majority adhering to the Theravada school of Buddhism and having their own written language with a diversity of different and unique styles in Buddhist iconography.

View our collection of Alabaster and Marble Buddha Statues