A RARE AND LARGE BRONZE FIGURE OF THE WALKING BUDDHA, U-THONG C STYLE, 14TH CENTURY
A RARE AND LARGE BRONZE FIGURE OF THE WALKING BUDDHA, U-THONG C STYLE, 14TH CENTURY
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve
The Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger, entry from 2005:
“No. 134, LA 2002, Thai Walking U-Thong-C Buddha 15th c. bronze”
Gallery price: EUR 185,000 or approx.
EUR 309,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing.
Thailand. Superbly cast, depicted striding forward with the right leg slightly advanced, the right hand raised in abhaya mudra, the gesture of reassurance and protection, while the left arm extends gracefully alongside the body. The figure is clad in a diaphanous sanghati, elegantly draped over the left shoulder and falling in a gently undulating hemline.
The finely modeled face conveys a profound serenity, characterized by heavy-lidded downcast eyes beneath softly arched brows, a slender nose, and full lips forming a composed smile, all framed by long, pendulous earlobes. The hair is arranged in tight, spiked curls covering the prominent ushnisha, surmounted by a flame.
Provenance: Collection of Leo Albrecht, Denmark, by 2002. Jorgen Ruben, acquired from the above. In the Jorgen Ruben Collection for 24 years.
Leo Albrecht was a German-born publisher and literary agent who established himself in Copenhagen after the Second World War. In 1951 he founded his agency, which played an important role in expanding the international market for Scandinavian literature. He began collecting art in the late 1950s, with a particular focus on Asian sculpture. In Copenhagen, he spent much of his time visiting antique dealers, museums, and exhibitions. He developed especially close ties with Ole Haslund, Lau Sunde, and Freddy Hansen, among the most prominent dealers in their fields. He also traveled frequently to London, where he became close friends with Adrian Maynard. Jorgen Ruben first met Albrecht in 1984, and they quickly became close friends. Ruben later described him as a gentleman and “the greatest collector of Asian art in Denmark.” He acquired Albrecht's entire Asian sculpture collection when Albrecht moved back to Germany after selling his publishing company. The two remained close, with Albrecht continuing to visit Denmark each summer and staying at the Ruben family's beach house north of Copenhagen.
Jorgen Ruben is a Danish art dealer and collector who has been active for over four decades and is highly regarded in the fields of Asian art and classical antiquities. Raised in an art-conscious family, Ruben was exposed early to both modern painting and European decorative arts. He began working in the art trade in the mid-1970s, first with Persian rugs and later with antiques, while travels to Iran and a visit to Persepolis sparked his lasting interest in antiquity. After studies in Copenhagen and London, he worked in England with a dealer in early furniture, before travelling widely in Latin America and Asia, deepening his knowledge of regional art and culture. In 1984 Ruben opened a gallery in Copenhagen dealing in Asian antiquities. He was later active in London and, in the early 2000s, operated the Brussels gallery Classic Art. Much of his career, however, has been conducted privately from home, selling by appointment to collectors, galleries, and museums. Ruben has always bought selectively, choosing only works that deeply engaged him, and often keeping them for many years until placing them with a collector he felt truly understood them.
Important Note: For essential information on the
Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger and provenance documentation please visit here: www.zacke.at/rubencollection_ledger
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age and displaying superbly. Expected wear, casting irregularities, traces of weathering, fatigue cracks, some with associated old fills, an old repair to the lower body, extensive remnants of gilt, light nicks, few minor dents, surface scratches. The bronze with a smooth, naturally grown, warm patina overall.
Weight: 34.5 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 131.7 cm (excl. stand), 134.9 cm (incl. stand)
Mounted on an associated wood stand. (2)
This unusually large image of the Buddha is a paragon of Southeast Asian metal casting and an exemplary example of the rare and refined U-Thong corpus of Thai Buddhist sculpture. The U-Thong style, a term used to classify bronzes into three successive chronological groups, identified by A. B. Griswold as styles A, B, and C, dating from the late twelfth to the fifteenth century, reflects a synthesis of Mon, Khmer, and other Southeast Asian influences that persisted from earlier workshop traditions in the region.
The latest U-Thong group, style C, to which the present bronze may be attributed, was fully developed after the founding of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1351. It is the closest of the three phases to the mainstream Ayutthaya style of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, while still retaining discernible Mon and Khmer elements. Whereas most U-Thong images, particularly those of the earlier phases, are relatively small in scale, the present bronze is exceptionally impressive due to its almost life-sized scale and the refinement of its casting.
The designation 'U-Thong' remains somewhat ambiguous. Although a Mon Dvaravati city-state of this name flourished during the Dvaravati period, from approximately the seventh to eleventh century, archaeological evidence suggests that it had been abandoned by the eleventh century. The term is more plausibly associated with King Ramathibodi, founder of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1351, who was also known as Prince U-Thong. Accordingly, the term 'U-Thong style' refers to bronzes produced in a distinctive idiom that developed prior to the foundation of Ayutthaya and subsequently evolved through synthesis with the dominant artistic traditions of the Ayutthaya period. Its earliest formative impulses derive from a sophisticated amalgamation of regional styles, including the Khmer-influenced Lopburi tradition and the Khmer Empire to the east, the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya to the north, and the polities of Burma to the west.
U-Thong sculptures are most readily distinguished from other contemporaneous styles by the treatment of the face and the detailing of the head and hair. The cranial protuberance, or ushnisha, in Styles B and C is typically surmounted by a tall flaming jewel. The hair is rendered in small, tightly coiled curls, in contrast to the larger 'snail-shell' curls characteristic of Sukhothai sculpture. A thin, plain band separates the hairline from the forehead, often culminating in a pronounced widow's peak, as in the present example. The face, marked by heavy-lidded, downcast eyes, a broad nose, and full lips, reflects the influence of earlier Khmer models, particularly the thirteenth-century Bayon style. In style C, however, these somewhat austere features are softened, as is evident as well in the present work. Likewise, whereas styles A and B tend toward almost rectangular facial structures, style C moves closer to more oval physiognomies characteristic of contemporary Ayutthaya sculpture, a development also apparent in this image.
Equally distinctive of U-Thong style sculpture is the refined handling of the drapery, which often falls in soft folds along the back at the level of the feet, thereby framing the figure in a restrained and balanced manner. This treatment contrasts with other contemporary examples, in which the drapery more commonly cascades from the raised arm in a more fluid, sinuous movement. See, for example, the two images of standing Buddha depicting the gesture of forbidding relatives from fighting, in the U-Thong style, cast from a model preserved at Wat Rajathiwat, Bangkok, and installed in the cloister surrounding the ordination hall (Ubosot) of Wat Benchamabophit, Bangkok.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related earlier bronze figure of a Walking Buddha, dated first half of the 13th century, 29 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 1984.481.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie's London, 13 October 2023, lot 4
Price: GBP 604,800 or approx.
EUR 774,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A monumental gilt-bronze figure of Buddha, Thailand, U-Thong style, 14th-15th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of casting and modeling. Note the similar size (132.7 cm) and different pose.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie's New York, 17 September 1999, lot 254
Price: USD 112,500 or approx.
EUR 193,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large and important bronze figure of a 'Walking Buddha', Thailand, Sukhothai, 15th-16th century
Expert remark: Compare the related manner of casting and modeling. Note the size (117 cm).
Buyer's Premium
30%
A RARE AND LARGE BRONZE FIGURE OF THE WALKING BUDDHA, U-THONG C STYLE, 14TH CENTURY
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve
The Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger, entry from 2005:
“No. 134, LA 2002, Thai Walking U-Thong-C Buddha 15th c. bronze”
Gallery price: EUR 185,000 or approx.
EUR 309,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing.
Thailand. Superbly cast, depicted striding forward with the right leg slightly advanced, the right hand raised in abhaya mudra, the gesture of reassurance and protection, while the left arm extends gracefully alongside the body. The figure is clad in a diaphanous sanghati, elegantly draped over the left shoulder and falling in a gently undulating hemline.
The finely modeled face conveys a profound serenity, characterized by heavy-lidded downcast eyes beneath softly arched brows, a slender nose, and full lips forming a composed smile, all framed by long, pendulous earlobes. The hair is arranged in tight, spiked curls covering the prominent ushnisha, surmounted by a flame.
Provenance: Collection of Leo Albrecht, Denmark, by 2002. Jorgen Ruben, acquired from the above. In the Jorgen Ruben Collection for 24 years.
Leo Albrecht was a German-born publisher and literary agent who established himself in Copenhagen after the Second World War. In 1951 he founded his agency, which played an important role in expanding the international market for Scandinavian literature. He began collecting art in the late 1950s, with a particular focus on Asian sculpture. In Copenhagen, he spent much of his time visiting antique dealers, museums, and exhibitions. He developed especially close ties with Ole Haslund, Lau Sunde, and Freddy Hansen, among the most prominent dealers in their fields. He also traveled frequently to London, where he became close friends with Adrian Maynard. Jorgen Ruben first met Albrecht in 1984, and they quickly became close friends. Ruben later described him as a gentleman and “the greatest collector of Asian art in Denmark.” He acquired Albrecht's entire Asian sculpture collection when Albrecht moved back to Germany after selling his publishing company. The two remained close, with Albrecht continuing to visit Denmark each summer and staying at the Ruben family's beach house north of Copenhagen.
Jorgen Ruben is a Danish art dealer and collector who has been active for over four decades and is highly regarded in the fields of Asian art and classical antiquities. Raised in an art-conscious family, Ruben was exposed early to both modern painting and European decorative arts. He began working in the art trade in the mid-1970s, first with Persian rugs and later with antiques, while travels to Iran and a visit to Persepolis sparked his lasting interest in antiquity. After studies in Copenhagen and London, he worked in England with a dealer in early furniture, before travelling widely in Latin America and Asia, deepening his knowledge of regional art and culture. In 1984 Ruben opened a gallery in Copenhagen dealing in Asian antiquities. He was later active in London and, in the early 2000s, operated the Brussels gallery Classic Art. Much of his career, however, has been conducted privately from home, selling by appointment to collectors, galleries, and museums. Ruben has always bought selectively, choosing only works that deeply engaged him, and often keeping them for many years until placing them with a collector he felt truly understood them.
Important Note: For essential information on the
Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger and provenance documentation please visit here: www.zacke.at/rubencollection_ledger
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age and displaying superbly. Expected wear, casting irregularities, traces of weathering, fatigue cracks, some with associated old fills, an old repair to the lower body, extensive remnants of gilt, light nicks, few minor dents, surface scratches. The bronze with a smooth, naturally grown, warm patina overall.
Weight: 34.5 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 131.7 cm (excl. stand), 134.9 cm (incl. stand)
Mounted on an associated wood stand. (2)
This unusually large image of the Buddha is a paragon of Southeast Asian metal casting and an exemplary example of the rare and refined U-Thong corpus of Thai Buddhist sculpture. The U-Thong style, a term used to classify bronzes into three successive chronological groups, identified by A. B. Griswold as styles A, B, and C, dating from the late twelfth to the fifteenth century, reflects a synthesis of Mon, Khmer, and other Southeast Asian influences that persisted from earlier workshop traditions in the region.
The latest U-Thong group, style C, to which the present bronze may be attributed, was fully developed after the founding of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1351. It is the closest of the three phases to the mainstream Ayutthaya style of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, while still retaining discernible Mon and Khmer elements. Whereas most U-Thong images, particularly those of the earlier phases, are relatively small in scale, the present bronze is exceptionally impressive due to its almost life-sized scale and the refinement of its casting.
The designation 'U-Thong' remains somewhat ambiguous. Although a Mon Dvaravati city-state of this name flourished during the Dvaravati period, from approximately the seventh to eleventh century, archaeological evidence suggests that it had been abandoned by the eleventh century. The term is more plausibly associated with King Ramathibodi, founder of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1351, who was also known as Prince U-Thong. Accordingly, the term 'U-Thong style' refers to bronzes produced in a distinctive idiom that developed prior to the foundation of Ayutthaya and subsequently evolved through synthesis with the dominant artistic traditions of the Ayutthaya period. Its earliest formative impulses derive from a sophisticated amalgamation of regional styles, including the Khmer-influenced Lopburi tradition and the Khmer Empire to the east, the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya to the north, and the polities of Burma to the west.
U-Thong sculptures are most readily distinguished from other contemporaneous styles by the treatment of the face and the detailing of the head and hair. The cranial protuberance, or ushnisha, in Styles B and C is typically surmounted by a tall flaming jewel. The hair is rendered in small, tightly coiled curls, in contrast to the larger 'snail-shell' curls characteristic of Sukhothai sculpture. A thin, plain band separates the hairline from the forehead, often culminating in a pronounced widow's peak, as in the present example. The face, marked by heavy-lidded, downcast eyes, a broad nose, and full lips, reflects the influence of earlier Khmer models, particularly the thirteenth-century Bayon style. In style C, however, these somewhat austere features are softened, as is evident as well in the present work. Likewise, whereas styles A and B tend toward almost rectangular facial structures, style C moves closer to more oval physiognomies characteristic of contemporary Ayutthaya sculpture, a development also apparent in this image.
Equally distinctive of U-Thong style sculpture is the refined handling of the drapery, which often falls in soft folds along the back at the level of the feet, thereby framing the figure in a restrained and balanced manner. This treatment contrasts with other contemporary examples, in which the drapery more commonly cascades from the raised arm in a more fluid, sinuous movement. See, for example, the two images of standing Buddha depicting the gesture of forbidding relatives from fighting, in the U-Thong style, cast from a model preserved at Wat Rajathiwat, Bangkok, and installed in the cloister surrounding the ordination hall (Ubosot) of Wat Benchamabophit, Bangkok.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related earlier bronze figure of a Walking Buddha, dated first half of the 13th century, 29 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 1984.481.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie's London, 13 October 2023, lot 4
Price: GBP 604,800 or approx.
EUR 774,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A monumental gilt-bronze figure of Buddha, Thailand, U-Thong style, 14th-15th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of casting and modeling. Note the similar size (132.7 cm) and different pose.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie's New York, 17 September 1999, lot 254
Price: USD 112,500 or approx.
EUR 193,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large and important bronze figure of a 'Walking Buddha', Thailand, Sukhothai, 15th-16th century
Expert remark: Compare the related manner of casting and modeling. Note the size (117 cm).
Buyer's Premium
30%
