A very heavy Carved stone Buddha

A. G. Maisey · 18th January 2018, 08:21 PM

My guess is that the stone was almost certainly covered with a layer of plaster. I believe careful inspection will reveal small areas of plaster still in place.

Something that is not generally realised is that in ancient times all those beautiful old, weathered stone buildings and statues were painted in bright colours --- well, maybe not "all", but most certainly most of them were.

The candis of Jawa were brightly painted and could be seen for miles. The same applied with Classical Greek sculpture --- as Euripides makes clear in his "Helen".

This stone statue would have been plastered and painted when it was new.

18th January 2018, 08:21 PM	#14
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,991	My guess is that the stone was almost certainly covered with a layer of plaster. I believe careful inspection will reveal small areas of plaster still in place. Something that is not generally realised is that in ancient times all those beautiful old, weathered stone buildings and statues were painted in bright colours --- well, maybe not "all", but most certainly most of them were. The candis of Jawa were brightly painted and could be seen for miles. The same applied with Classical Greek sculpture --- as Euripides makes clear in his "Helen". This stone statue would have been plastered and painted when it was new.