Seated Buddha

Description This image captures moments central to Buddhist beliefs. First, the Buddha’s victory over the evil forces of Mara, the personification of physical desires and delusions of the mind, who tried to tempt the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, with physical pleasures. Siddhartha continued to seek enlightenment through meditation and reached down to call earth to witness his fortitude. In victory over Mara, the goddess of the earth emerges to testify to Siddhartha’s perfected virtues, then, by wringing her hair, she creates a flood to wipe out Mara and his troops.

Conservation

This sculpture was examined as part of a large collection donated to the Walters in 2002 by the Doris Duke Charitible Foundation. Collected by Doris Duke from Thailand decades ago, the object exhibited many condition problems. At the Walters, a full examination was performed to identify the materials and methods of construction, and examine the current state of deterioration. To prepare the object for exhibition, the lifting lacquer was consolidated and the surface was cleaned. Small areas of loss on the Buddha's right shoulder were inpainted with watercolors.

Date	Description	Narrative
12/31/1969	Treatment	cleaned; examined for condition; examined for exhibition; examined for technical study; inpainted; media consolidation; stabilized; surface cleaned; thermoluminescence; x-ray; x-ray florescence

Provenance Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's Southeast Asian Art Collection; given to Walters Art Museum, 2002.

Credit Gift from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's Southeast Asian Art Collection, 2002