Seated Buddha

Object Details

Previous custodian or owner

Albert Bouasse-Lebel (1868-1955)

Paul Mallon (1884-1975)

Provenance

As early as 1898

Found and excavated by an unidentified French official near Biên Hòa, Ð?ng Nai Province, Vietnam [1]

By 1919 to 1930s

M. Bouasse-Lebel (1868-1955), purchased from the unidentified French official [2]

1930s-1937

Paul Mallon (1884-1975), from M. Bouasse-Lebel, method of acquisition unknown [3]

From 1937

Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Paul Mallon [4]

Notes:

[1] In a letter dated 15 April 1937, from the art dealer Paul Mallon (1884-1975) to the Freer Gallery of Art, Mallon notes that the French official was digging for moonstone when he discovered this bronze along with several other sculptures sometime during the year 1898. The letter also notes that the sculptures entered into Lebel's collection in 1919. Sherman Lee dates the discovery of the buried objects to 1919 instead. See Sherman Lee, "A Cambodian Bronze Hoard" in Art in America Vol. 31, no. 2 (1943), pp. 78-83. This sculpture was discovered along with six other Khmer bronze images that were excavated from a site in Vietnam. The group includes Buddhist and Hindu deities and ritual objects, all of which are small in scale. Little research has been done on the origins of the group--where the sculptures were made, how they were used, and why or how they traveled remains unknown.

[2] See letter from Paul Mallon and Lee article referenced in note 1. M. Bouasse-Lebel may be the dealer and collector Albert Bouasse-Lebel and/or a member of the family operating the Bouasse-Lebel printing and engraving firm on Rue Saint-Sulpice in Paris.

[3] See "Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List After 1920," notations in object file.

[4] The Freer Gallery of Art purchased from Paul Mallon on June 2, 1937. See notation on the object receipt, April 14, 1937, copy in accession file.

Research completed October 29, 2021.

Credit Line

Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

12th century

Period

Angkor period

Accession Number

F1937.29a-d

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Sculpture

Medium

Bronze

Dimensions

H x W: 13.2 x 30 cm (5 3/16 x 11 13/16 in)

Origin

Cambodia

Related Online Resources

F|S Southeast Asia

Google Cultural Institute

See more items in

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Topic

Buddhism

Buddha

Angkor period (802 - 1431)

Cambodia

dhyana mudra

Southeast Asian Art

Record ID

fsg_F1937.29a-d

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye3b1f7cfbb-7a54-4d0d-b29d-340f56a5f4b4