Description
Dokra art
This traditional art and craft has not changed for millennia (more than 4000 years) and the technique used is still that of lost wax: a rough model in clay is made and then covered with wax by the artist who will give it its final shape with its details. The whole is again covered with a clay mixture and then heated in an open hearth where a copper alloy will be cast. See Blog.
The objects produced by the Dokra artists can be of usual nature: dish, candlestick... musical instruments (brass), or artistic such as jewelry, animals: horses, elephants, turtles..., statues of men and women representing scenes of daily life and Hindu deities adopted by the tribes: Ganesh, Lakshmi, ....
This statuette symbolizes: deep meditation, atman darshan, the vision of the absolute.
The lost wax technique used by the Dokras is easily found in this
tribal statue of Buddha. However the essence of the style dates back to the Gupta period with the characteristic hairstyle made of hair curls, the Unisha at the top (a protrusion on the top of the head resembling a bun) and the elongated ears (see the Buddha of Sarnath).
The Dokra style is also marked by the presence of jewels: necklaces and bracelets whereas in the traditional representation, the absence of jewels marks precisely the passage of prince Siddharta to the state of Buddha (the lengthened ears being the sign that the Buddha gave up his old attributes and ornaments of prince).
Clothing This Buddha is completely naked (except for the jewels), thus reinforcing the notions of
renunciation, detachment and letting go, of peace which emerges from this statue.