Chinese Carved Figure of Buddha with Elephant. 

Size: 5 1/2 X 3 X 6 3/4 in. 

#3966 . 

Much Buddhist art uses depictions of the historical Buddha who likely lived in the 6th or 5th Centuries BC, known as Gautama Buddha. These types of art are collectively known as Buddharūpa (literally ”Form of the Awakened One”) in Sanskrit and Pali. They may be statues, paintings, or drawings, and the main figure in an image may be someone else who has obtained Buddhahood (or is on the journey to do so, called boddhisattva), especially in the various traditions of Mahayana Buddhism. Other Buddhas and bodhisattvas in art have become increasingly common over the centuries, now outnumbering surviving images of the historical Buddha. In its first centuries Buddhism was largely or entirely aniconic, not showing the person of Buddha except by symbols and relics. This changed around the 1st Century BC, and figures of the Buddha became very common in the art of Gandhara and Gupta art. As forms of esoteric Buddhism developed, other figures from the expanding array of Buddhist sacred persons became more prominent, akin to the proliferation of the images of Saints following the death of Jesus Christ. In Theravada Buddhism this was much less the case, and figures of the historical Buddha remain the most common main images in temples and shrines to the present. Early images were most often of Buddha standing, but later seated meditating postures, essentially the lotus position of yoga, came to predominate. Often these represent a specific moment in the Buddha’s life, which is identified by the Buddha’s hand gesture (mudra), or attributes shown. There are also statues of the Reclining Buddha, lying down, usually showing the moment of his death. Sets of narrative scenes from the life of the Buddha tend to concentrate on standard groupings such as the Eight Great Events or other sets, but may be much larger. Originally common in reliefs and probably paintings (of which few have survived), they have more recently mostly been in painted form. Narrative scenes may show the Buddha in various poses, though they tend to show the Buddha in the same standing, seated or lying positions, with other figures or a mudra indicating what moment is being depicted. In the modern age, economic and space considerations have led to a vast array of busts or simple head sculptures of the Buddha becoming extremely popular, both with secular and religious collectors and organizations.