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This large Brass equal arm balance scale is mounted on 2 pieces of marble.
It is about 22 inches high and weighs about 15 lbs
It has a laughing Buddha holding up the scales of justice. There are no markings on the piece
Any info as to its meaning or origin would be help full
Thanks

Hi,

I've never seen anything like that before. Very interesting and lovely piece.

Intuitively, I'd say it might be French, second half of the 19th century to early 20th.

I might be reading too much into it but it feels as if the Buddha could have been a separate piece added on. The fact that the screws thread is visible underneath and above him and appear to have been cut isn't typical of the finest craftsmanship, they would generally have gone to the effort to hide such things as they were considered to be unsightly. Maybe someone has decided to fiddle around with a pre-existing scales by adding the figure in? Just a hypothesis.

Lovely thing at any rate.

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