stunning ANTIQUE Lacquered life-size Gilt Wood Buddha statue with inlay ANTIQUE Maitreya Buddha Lacquered Gilt Wood statue with inlay,  Burma,  circa 19 century; Mandalay temple style standing Buddha, depicted with hand poised teaching/giving mudra; This is an amazingly beautiful work of art. The carvings are quite delicate. The patina is stunning. The Buddha is holding a lotus bud. His stance and expression are very gentle and peaceful.  With its oval face, elongated arms and fingers, and carefully chiseled drapery, this wood-carved and gilded Buddha image from Burma is characteristic of a style that developed in Mandalay in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Gilding of Buddha images, considered a meritorious act, is applied using lacquer made from tree sap, which is sometimes mixed with a red pigment made from cinnabar. Lacquer is also used to sculpt the curls of the Buddha’s hair and his ushnisha (a cranial protuberance signifying his status as an enlightened being). There is a similar mudra example exhibited at the Buddha Bar in Paris, France. Background: Mandalay Buddha images were made from various kinds of materials. Most adorned images were made from wood as this one is, alabaster, or cast in bronze. The head, hands and feet could be in marble, the torso would be of wood with a costume painted in lacquer, decorated with gilt and inlaid with colored mirror glass, as this one is. A very small number of papier mache (Pra Prong) images have been found which have been painted with black lacquer. The faces of the images were beautified in various ways. Some were painted white, some were gilded and some simply showed the surface of the original materials from which the face was made. It was typical for the Buddha of this period to have an oval-shaped face with a thick rim, human-like facial features, except the ears which were elongated to the shoulders, a slender body (Ramayana influenced), adorned with only a plain monk’s robe across the left shoulder also lacquered and painted with Chad (red color) and gilded and finally inlaid with colored  mirror glass, and the standing position Buddha statues would have the right hand showing a gesture - many had the right hand pendant with the palm turned outwards similar to the Pang Prathan Phorn gesture (the Varada Mudra or gift bestowing gesture) or the Pang Perd Lok (open to the three worlds) gesture. Height including pedestal: 70.5" Width: 31.5" Shipping: This listing includes a shipping credit of up to $700 including packing, handling and insurance. The buyer is welcome to supplement this shipping offer with additional funds if needed.Please contact me with any questions regarding this item or the shipping of this item. Non smoking home.Clean & Pet free home. Local pickup welcome. Thank you.