A SMALL GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF BHAISHAJYAGURU MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGLE

finely cast and depicted seated in vajraparyankasana on a double-lotus pedestal with beaded edges, the deity rendered holding in his left hand a bowl filled with myrobalan fruit and clad in a pleated robe draped over the left shoulder and cascading in voluminous folds near the feet, further depicted with a serene meditative expression below thin arched brows and an urna, surmounted by hair arranged in rows of small whorls and a bud-shaped ushnisha, flanked by a pair of pendulous earlobes pierced with vertical slots, the front of the lotus base incised with a six-character reign mark, the base sealed with a plate and incised with a double-vajra

The iconography of this rare small bronze sculpture, depicted seated in dhyanasana on a double lotus base, holding a bowl filled with myrobalan fruit represents the Medicine Buddha (Bhaishajyaguru). Richly gilded and skilfully cast with sensitive rendition of the facial features, body, loose robes and crisp lotus base, it is of an unusually small size.

A much larger (27.7cm) Yongle reign-marked gilt-bronze figure of Bhaishajyaguru of identical iconography was sold at Christie’s New York, 20th March 2014, lot 1624. For another Yongle reign-marked figure of the same small size, see a gilt-bronze figure of the Buddha in meditation, illustrated in Robert Bigler, Art and Faith at the Crossroads, Zurich, 2013, cat. no. 28.