Buddhist Art Wall Painting, Wood Carvings, Bronze and Brass Casting

Buddhist Art such as wall painting, wood carvings plus bronze and brass casting

and more was refined over almost 2000 years.

Most common art forms are statues and paintings. Today most buyers use the objects for decorative purposes they always are in search for a impressive artwork, images, figurines and jade Buddha are also in high demand.

Another object of desire for a collector or just as a decorative enhancement as sculptures, for the personal use often amulets and Buddha jade pendants are used.

Placing the objects into a house convey a positive spiritual expression, a quiet, peaceful smiling sitting Buddha statue is an ideal object in the house to express this.

Images and other Buddhist art work plus architecture have an important impact in many traditional societies. Mudras are associated with life, society and teaching. Best seen at images and Buddha sculptures.

Around Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia is plenty of art in this direction unfortunately lots has been looted and stolen in the past and brought out of the country shipped to Europe, USA, Hong Kong and Singapore which made the authorities in the relevant countries very sensitive about this matter.

Actually all this smuggling is still done its only more difficult and prices have been raised because of the additional risks.

Just looking around at Singapore Tanglin Center, certain places in Hong Kong and Bangkok or maybe in the area around the big auction houses in London and New York, it’s amazing what a variety of old oriental art is still on display for sale. This are mainly all kind of Buddha statues in bronze and stone plus paintings. 

Some history of it

This eastern art is nothing new already in the centuries before zero of the western time count statues, artwork, paintings and other was created. The first were so called “jakata stories” depicting the life of Gautama Buddha and other of that time. These were usually decorations in temples but Buddha as a person was rarely shown in a picture, mural or statues in India, where Buddhism finally came from since he said many times showing a person after he passed away is not appropriate.

Statues with human expressions started to appear around the first century in Northern India. This was in The Kingdom of Gandhara, today north Pakistan and Mathura region. Mathura is also the birth place of Shree Krishna (the incarnation of Lord Vishnu and a major pilgrimage destination, there murals were seen first. In the Kingdom of Gandhara bu influence from the Greeks, conquest of Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, gave some motivation to produce statues and similar in Greek style.

Buddhist art further developed in India

By the 10th century this was somehow phased out by Hinduism and Islam which took over. Now it flourished in neighboring countries such as today Sri Lanka, China and Myanmar. Mahayana Buddhism moved towards Central Asia plus China, Korea and Japan and Theravada Buddhism took the southern route to Myanmar, Thailand plus Cambodia.