The Buddha image:- at first early buddhists avoided direct representations of the Buddha, and used symbols instead.

This was replaced after the 1st century CE by a trend to represent the Buddha directly.

From that time on, the image of buddha has diversified and evolved as it spread to new countries where the buddhist faith was expanding and developing. A tibetan buddha figure is much different to a chinese or thai figure.

The statues in this section have been made from tibetan buddhist influences and contain all the characteristics of that particular tradition.

The majority of tibetan metal images are hollow cast, which is a technically more difficult process but allows consecrated or sacred objects to be inserted into an image. However, none of these statues contain such consecrated items.

Related departments:

Wall Hangings