Crowned Buddha with Hands in Gesture of Teaching <em>(Vitarkamudra)</em>
Angkor period, 12th century or later
- Medium
- Bronze
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- 15.7 × 5.8 × 2.3 cm (6 1/8 × 2 1/4 × 7/8 in.)
- Culture
- Southeast Asia
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This standing crowned and bejeweled Buddha, depicted with the distinctive double teaching hand gesture (vitarkamudra), exemplifies a key feature of Khmer Buddhist iconography from the 12th century onward. This imagery likely draws inspiration from earlier Mon‒Dvaravati standing Buddha depictions, though uncrowned, which also emphasize the double teaching symmetrical pose. Possibly originating in the region of Phimai, northeast Thailand—an important Mahayana and tantric Buddhist center—this iconographic type diverges from Indian traditions and became a hallmark of Khmer art before later giving way to the fearless hand gesture (abhayamudra). Small bronzes of this kind, widely produced and circulated across the Angkorian empire, lack site-specific origins, making their precise provenance nearly impossible to determine.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
