513 - SEATED COPPER GURU WITH PAINTING BHUTAN 18TH CENTURY

SEATED COPPER GURU WITH PAINTING BHUTAN 18TH CENTURY Dimensions: Height 11,6 cm Wide 7 cm Depth 5,5 cm Weight: 246 grams A small seated copper guru from Bhutan, raised on a double-lotus base and distinguished by surviving painted details. The teacher sits cross-legged in a composed frontal pose, one hand raised with a ritual implement and the other supporting an open, vividly coloured object at the lap. A tall cap frames the face, while traces of red, blue, green and gold enliven the otherwise warm brown copper surface. The cylindrical lower base is decorated with a small roundel and shows green oxidation along the edges. Paint is particularly important here because it changes the way the metal image is read. The colour is not merely an afterthought applied to a finished sculpture; it directs attention to sacred attributes, clothing and facial details, bringing selected parts of the figure forward against the darker metal. Himalayan devotional images frequently combine casting, gilding, pigment and inserted materials, and the surviving colour gives this figure a rare sense of its original visual complexity. The guru's raised implement, distinctive cap and meditative posture place the emphasis on lineage and teaching rather than on divine splendour. At this intimate scale the sculpture would have been suited to close devotional use, where the painted details, ritual attributes and lotus base could be read from only a short distance.