Old bronze statue....

[gleaner1]

found in the crotch at the base of an old pine tree in my favorite park in an old grove with hundreds of old pine trees, half buried in soil, inches of rotting pine needles covering the top, gave overload signal, good signal with coil 15" off ground. I think its a Sino-Tibetan bronze, 9.25" tall, no markings at all, no damage which is remarkable because it has small pieces which can easily break off. I cant imagine its value. I am not good at prepping pics for email so I only have one.

 

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[godisnum1]

Here ya' go...
Great find!
It's exactly like the huge stone statue in Laura Croft's, Tomb Raider.

Bran <><

 

[Bikernico]

Thats a nice one

Detector greetings from holland
Nico

 

[allen]

that is a cool find !

 

[gleaner1]

Thanks Bran for the fix on the pic. Hope nobody notices that this statue is x-rated!!

 

[Tank69]

ok now thats a cool find

 

[curbdiggercarl57]

Thanks Bran for the fix on the pic. Hope nobody notices that this statue is x-rated!!

I do now! Thanks!

 

[Mr. Green]

Hi, great find. It's a buddhist or Hindu statue. Manufactured in India, Nepal, Tibet or Bhutan. Could be brand new, since many "brand new" statues look really old. It depends on the process of manufacture and grade of the staute. There are however statues like this that are 200-300 years old. If you like I could look into it...

PS
If it's new it wouldn't cost more than 15$. If it's old however, it could very well be quite expensive. If that is the case, then you're in for a deal because there's a lucrative market for such artifacts.

 

[gleaner1]

More pics, I'm learning the camera, the software and how to post to this site so I'm off a bit. The first pic is large, try to do a full view, it's a decapitation shot. One of the pics is the reverse side of the statue shown in the original post.

 

[Mr. Green]

Yes, I can now definitely say it is Buddhist. It is the deity Chakrasamvara. See the link for a traditional tibetan thangka (painting) of Chakrasamvara.

http://imageserver.himalayanart.org...=uv,1.0&page=image.html&rect=0,0,1,1&hei=1400

I'm still not sure it's old, because many such statues are simply very low quality, hence the worn out look. I'll try and get hold of someone who is more expert. One thing to notice is to look at the underside of the statue and see if it is sealed, or if it's hollow. All Buddhist statues are made hollow, so that later they can be filled with special herbs, relics etc. If your statue is sealed then you should NOT open it for ANY reason.

Usually such statues don't have any markings on them.

By the way, you're looking at this statue the wrong way - the consort is at the front side of it, not the reverse. The front is the last picture you posted.

All the Best

 

[gleaner1]

Mr. Green, I appreciate that you are sharing your knowledge on this item. There are probably not many experts out there that I can find regarding this piece. I researched similar items on the net and determined it to be Sino-Tibetan because of the oriental features on the faces. Is that correct? I am on the fence trying to decide if this an older piece or a 20th century knock-off. The surface patina is deep and rich and the bronze seems to be overall fairly high-quality, having very smooth surfaces and immense detail. Although it does have a bit of spotty flash, like on modern sand castings, and also minor surface bubbles "bug holes". The metal where the patina has worn off has the same color as common yellow brass.

Another thing I noticed is that it may be made up of several pieces which have been fused together after casting the smaller pieces. Or is that just the way they built up the wax pattern? The base is completely hollow and it appears to have traces of gilt. Were these bronzes ever gold plated?.

I will guess its age as 60% chance 20th century, 30% chance 19th century and 10% chance 18th or 17th century. I'll post more pics soon to show you more details. My hope is that you could put me in the rough range of age and value. Best regards to you and thanks very much.

 

[Mr. Green]

Dear gleaner1,
thank you for the reply.

As I said, the statue is definitely a Buddhist statue, moreover it is a representation of a specific Buddhist deity (there are literally hundreds of such deities, all different from one another. Each has an exact number of hands, faces, legs, hand implements etc, i.e. is unique.)

May be a little history is appropriate to further clarify things.

Buddhism originated in India around 500B.C. and subsequently spread to most parts of Asia. Within Buddhism there are different traditions though, and those associated with the notion of deity have for the last 1200 years existed only in Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, and parts of India and China.

In ancient times and nowadays this exact kind of statues were made only in these countries. It doesn't matter how old or new this statue is, there's no room for doubt - it's origin is in one of these places.

I realize I'm used to talking with people who have a very good understanding of Buddhist terms and history and thus some of the terms I use may sound obscure to you - if that is the case then you could check them in the wikipedia - it contains ample information.

Anyway, I have before me about ten such brand new statues, and all of them have a richer patina than yours - because they are, unlike coins, artificially patinated. The patina tends to disappear with age/use. Statues like this are very often gilded partially or in full, with silver or gold. Usually the various implements held by the figures and their ornaments are painted, often with paint containing gold dust. The details on your statue are by no means immense for such an item. Very high quality (new) statues have much greater detail and much finer craftsmanship. I have seen countless such examples and have several before me now. This leads to two possible scenarios - the statue is old and not of a very high craftsmanship, or is new and really low quality.

The Lost-wax method is used to manufacture such statues. The model is made of wax, then covered with clay etc etc...

You say you have fused pieces - this is perfectly normal. The central figure (male + consort), the base it is standing on and the two beings beneath it's feat would have been cast separately and then fused, as well as some of the hand implements, the garland of skulls and the tiger skin. The last two are the things hanging below the lower torsos of the figures

It's unfortunate the base is hollow, this would mean it was either never filled (which is a sure sign it is not old), or was indeed filled, sealed, and consequently emptied and the statue discarded afterwards (though this is highly unlikely). As I said before, all such Buddhist statues are made hollow, so as to be filled with precious substances, herbs, and even the physical remains of an important lama, kind of like and urn. If such was the case with this statue, it would've made it priceless for certain people.

The base would then be sealed with a metal plate. Nowadays the sealing is done with glue or epoxy, I'm not aware how it was achieved before these came into use.

If your statue indeed contained it's filaments, then it would've contained the original artifacts it was filled with, since there's no sane reason to fill a statue, then empty it and fill it again. Once a statue is filled and consecrated, then this would be for "eternity". So it would've been much easier to date.

The fact that it is indeed empty strongly suggests it most likely isn't old.

As I said, I really am just a regular person, not an expert or anything close. My experience comes only from my Buddhist background, as well as my travels in Nepal where I've seen 1000's of such statues. I had one person in mind who could help a lot, but I cannot get hold of him. But don't worry and be patient. If it is indeed old, then you can be sure it won't get any younger!

And if it's not of any great value, there's no reason to dismay - it really is a fantastic find.

 

[dirthunter]

 

[Mr. Green]

Dear gleaner1,
after sending pictures of your find to some people, the conclusion reached was that the statue was indeed manufactured recently.

If I were you I would put it in my living room and show it off to all my friends. 8)

 

[gleaner1]

Mr. Green, thank you very much for the info and detective work on this item.

 

[Mr. Green]

My pleasure.