This bronze Buddha rises in a pyramidal form, from a round double-lotus throne to a pointed bulge, or ushnisha, on the head. An ovoid halo frames the face, counterbalancing this triangular shape. Buddha’s contemplative face and hand gestures achieve a visual balance. He sits cross-legged, with both feet turned upward—a yogic posture of meditation. His left hand approximates the dhyanamudra, or meditative gesture. His right hand allays fear. This combination of mudras identifies this as the esoteric deity Vairochana, one of the five cosmic Buddhas, whose realm is the zenith.

This ninth-century figure is from the Indonesian island of Java. Java prospered due to its convenient location on the trade route between India and China. Javanese workshops produced many small, intricately cast and finished bronze sculptures. The form of this one resembles the famous Buddhas at Java’s Borobodur temple complex: an architectural model of the cosmos. This may have been the central figure in a three-dimensional mandala—an assembly of deities.