A carvedand painted teakwood figure of a Buddha, reclining on top of a chest


Width: 49 cm, 19 ins, height: 49 cm, 19 ins. Burma,mid-19th century

Provenance
Formerly in the collection of Lieutenant-GeneralAugustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers(1827-1900) until around 1970.

This elegant and perfectly symmetrical image has afascinating history. A hand- written label on the back, written in 1885 by oneThomas Smith, states that the box was seized from a Burmese brass-smith fornon-payment of rent. It had apparently been in a temple to receive offeringsfor war - presumably to fight the British! 1885 was the year of the ThirdAnglo-Burmese War- a conflict that lasted two weeks and ended with theabsorption of Burma into India, and the piece subsequently found its way intoGeneral Pitt Rivers Collection.