Standing Buddha
clay composite over an iron and split bamboo armature
Nepal
11th-12th century
height 80 cm – 32 in

This Nepalese image of the Buddha shows the poise and elegance so specifically associated with the Sarnath variety of the great Gupta tradition. In this sculpture we see once more the kinship between the Gupta and the early Newar, a kinship which is palpable in all early Nepalese sculpture, as if one of the surest paths of transmission of the artistic genius of the Gupta empire ran straight to the Kathmandu valley.

The Buddha is shown displaying the mudras or gestures typical of this theme as treated by early Nepali artists, with the right hand in the gesture of bestowing a boon, and the left hand holding up the hem of his robe to his shoulder. This set of gestures is rarely found in stone examples of the standing Buddha of the Gupta period, but it is almost ubiquitous in Nepali representations. Numerous examples of this theme are available in the art of Nepal in both stone and bronze.

Although the form of the sculpture is typical of Nepalese representations of the standing Buddha, the material and technique are very rare. Indeed, the existence of large scale and finely executed Nepalese sculptures in clay composite over an armature was until recently unknown.

This Buddha is constructed entirely out of clay materials over an armature of which the main members are fashioned from iron and the subsidiary members are made from sections of split bamboo. The inner layers of the composite are made of relatively rough clays, while the outer layer consists of a very fine and dense clay, giving a surface which appears at first to be polished wood or stone. The back of the robe has a layer of cloth incorporated into the clay surface which is painted in several patterns, the chest and face painted in red, while the shoulders and the back show traces of a floral design. It is probable that the final layers of colour are considerably later than the sculpture itself.

The discovery of this technique among the Newar master sculptors is of considerable significance when analysing the relationship between the sculpture of Nepal and Tibet. In Tibet, large monastic sculptures were often executed in a similar technique although wood was more often used as the armature rather than iron, and often the sculptures contain an inner core of straw, lacking here. The difference may be related to a difference in scale, for the Tibetan sculptures were often considerably larger than what is seen here. This Buddha, and the several other sculptures in this technique now being studied by Mary Shepherd Slusser, provide a precedent for this type of sculpture among the Newars of the Nepal valley at the same time that such sculpture was being executed in Tibet.

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