18TH - 19TH C. WOODEN TAI LUE BUDDHA AND STELE

Our clients know that I love Laotian style buddhas - for their expressiveness and the enormous variety, from 'primitive' folk images to highly refined temple buddhas.  This piece represents the more village type of production, although it most certainly was a temple piece.  This characteristic very humanized face is found on a great number of Tai Lue statues.  The Tai people are thought to have originated in central China about 2000 B.C., and different subgroups migrated to Burma, India, and Thailand/Laos.  The Tai Lue, one of these, probably came through Yunnan, and then moved to Northern Thailand(the Lanna Kingdom) and Laos.  This large buddha measures 36 inches tall, and is teak with polychrome.  The elements have lent it a soft, worn patina  An exceptional piece of folk art.  $2700