17th/18th centuryThe emaciated figure is seated with his long hands supported on his bent raised knee, his dhoti falling open to reveal his skeletal rib cage, his face finely modelled with downcast eyes and benign expression, the bronze patinated to a dark brownish-black colour with traces of gilding at the extremities.H. 16.5 cmProvenance:Private collection, the NetherlandsNote:The present finely modelled figure depicts Shakyamuni Buddha during his long fast under the Bodhi tree, where he sat until he discovered the true nature of existence and suffering and realized how suffering can be ended. His meditation ultimately helped him to attain his enlightenment. It was in the Yuan dynasty that the modelling of Buddha in this manner became popular and a convention in Chinese art. However, according to Sherman Lee and Wai-kam Ho in Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), 1968, p. 124, 'the prototype could be traced back at least to Kuan-hsiu's Sixteen Arhats of