The Journal of the Walters Art Museum 73 (2017) © 2018 Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery. ISSN 0083-7156. 25 THE BUDDHA AS SACRED SIAMESE KING A SEATED BUDDHA IN THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM MELODY ROD-ARI Te Walters Art Museum’s collection of Tai Buddhist sculp- ture is both materially rich and important in its academic scope. Its signifcance is due largely to the scholarship of the collector Alexander B. Griswold (1909–1991) and of the Walters’ curator of Asian art from 1986 to 2003, Hiram W. Woodward, Jr. Additional important gifts from Griswold’s estate and, more recently, the Doris Duke Collection consid- erably expanded the temporal range of the museum’s hold- ings. Among the most intriguing is a Tai mid-nineteenth- century Seated Buddha wearing patterned robes, a gift of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Southeast Asian Art Collection. Tis unusual gilded image of the histori- cal Buddha Shakyamuni demonstrates Siamese artists’ and patrons’ evolving tastes and the changing interpretation and representation of the Buddha over the course of the nine- teenth century. 1 Te Walters’ Seated Buddha (fg. 1) is approximately 23 inches (58 cm) tall, comprising a fourteen-inch fgure seated on a three-tiered lotus throne. Te Buddha’s legs are in virasana (hero pose) while the hands are in bhumisparsa mudra (calling the earth to witness); together, these pos- tures depict the narrative of the Buddha’s victory over Mara (maravijaya) during which the demon tried to break the Buddha-to-be’s concentration while he meditated under the bodhi tree prior to reaching enlightenment. Te sculpture depicts the moment that he touches the ground, calling the Earth Goddess, or Mae Torani as she is known in Tailand, to witness his previous good deeds and come to his assis- tance against Mara. Mae Torani is depicted at the center of the base, wringing from her hair water collected from the Buddha-to-be’s libations and the earth’s oceans, which creates a torrential food that washes away Mara and his army, allow- ing the great teacher to reach enlightenment. Mae Torani and a pair of elephants with seated adorants fanking her are all modeled three dimensionally, creating a dynamic scene. Te sculpture is hollow-cast brass that has been lacquered and gilded. Te fgure of the seated Buddha, the throne, and the maravijaya narrative depicted along the base were cast together. Cast separately are a fame fnial that would have been inseted in the fgure’s ushnisha (cranial protuberance) and a mandorla (now lost) that would have been inserted in an opening on the back of the throne’s top tier (fg. 2). With the mandorla in place, the Walters’ Seated Buddha would likely have resembled a ffteenth-century example housed in the Grand Palace Collection in Bangkok that may have inspired later images such as this. Indeed, its relatively small stature suggests that it was made for a royal chapel rather than to serve as the main icon of a temple or wat, such as that of the Emerald Buddha enshrined in Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha). Te Walters’ Seated Buddha is not dated, but the fgure’s patterned robe, refecting the taste among members of the court for imported Indian fabrics such as chintz, situates its date of production in the mid-nineteenth century. 2 An uninscribed donor plaque on the top tier of the throne, just below the Buddha’s left ankle, also suggests that this sculpture might have been associated with royalty. Such inscribed plaques are commonly found on royally commis- sioned Buddha sculptures dating to the Rattanakosin period (1782–present). 3 Te artistic quality of the sculpture makes it likely that the sculpture was a royal commission. Sculptures of the Buddha wearing robes with patterned designs were frst introduced during the reign of King Nangklao (Rama III; r. 1824–51). 4 Te development of this type of image may be related to a sculpture known as the “Chai Wat” Buddha, dating to the First Reign (1782–1809); the fgure’s robe was later hand painted with foral designs by King Nangklao. 5 Te act of painting the robes might