The State Hermitage Museum: Exhibitions

Buddha Maravijaya - the"Buddha who vanquished Mara" - a name given in Siam to the episode in which Gautama called upon the Earth goddess to bear witness and gained victory over Mara, the lord of evil forces.
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Siamese sculpture in the Hermitage

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Buddha Maravijaya

Lanna

Late 15th - early 16th century

Bronze, red and black lacquer, gilding, mother of pearl

Height: 44 cm

As it absorbed moisture from the air, the resin of the tree Melannorrhae usitata (nam hak black lacquer) hardened into a tough, slightly elastic mass with a smooth black surface. Nam hak is extracted only in the north of Thailand, although the tree itself - a variety of the lacquer tree that is distributed across the Far East and South-East Asia - grows everywhere in the country. The technology of lacquer usage in Siam was much simpler than in China or Japan. Red lacquer or nam hang (cinnabar in an oil binder) was imported from Burma or China. The black nam hak would be put on the metal first, then the red nam hang and finally gold was applied.

Buddha Maravijaya
Larger view

Lanna - a state in the Far North of present-day Thailand that existed up to the late 18th century. It flourished from the second half of the 13th century to the middle of the 16th.
Pass to Glossary