This brilliant Burmese Buddha is one of the finest antiques we have acquired in a number of years. It is estimated to have been constructed between the 18th-19th century. Standing just under 7 feet tall it is a one of a kind gem used traditionally for temple worship. The Buddha is standing on a blossoming lotus and in his hand Buddha holds the medicinal myrobalan fruit.

Carved out of one large teak tree and covered with at least 25 layers of Cinnabar lacquer and ornamentation. Used for sacred worship not for decoration. The sanghati robe flows in multitudinous folds from the left shoulder. In his right hand the Buddha holds the medicinal myrobalan fruit. The herb is known as Haritaki, Chebulic myrobalan, Bihara, and Harada in different dialects, and is one of the three fruits found in the traditional formulation of Triphala. ... Haritaki is a very important herb in Ayurveda, thought to promote fearlessness, feed the brain and nervous system, and bring awareness and wisdom.

Mandalay was considered the center of the Buddhist universe in Myanmar. King Mindon moved the capital from Amarapura to this new site and called it the city of Mandalay. Tradition maintains that Gautama Buddha visited the sacred peak of Mandalay Hill with his disciple Anada, and proclaimed that the 2400th anniversary of his death, a metropolis of Buddhist learning would be founded on the plain below the hill. The political center of this new city had the perfect geometrical form of a Buddist Mandala, for which the city was Mandalay.

The Mandalay period ends at the time when the Burmese gained its independence from the British.