Bronze miniature group depicting the First Sermon of the Buddha
 
A finely conceived bronze group depicting one of the most important episodes in the life of the Buddha: his first sermon, delivered at the Deer Park of Sarnath, near Benares (Varanasi), shortly after his enlightenment. The composition includes the seated Buddha, two deer, and the five disciples who became the first recipients of his teachings.
 
According to Buddhist tradition, after attaining enlightenment, the Buddha travelled to the Deer Park at Sarnath, where he encountered his five former companions. There he delivered his first sermon, setting in motion the “Wheel of the Dharma” and teaching the Middle Way and the foundations of Buddhist doctrine. The deer became an enduring symbol of this event, and pairs of deer flanking the Buddha are a particularly recognizable reference to the Deer Park and the First Sermon. Here the Buddha is represented in Bhumisparsha mudra, often a standard in Burmese art even for pre-enlightenment scene.
 
The subject held particular importance in Buddhist art, where the deer and the wheel of the Dharma could serve as visual symbols of the Buddha’s first teaching. The five disciples depicted here refer to the first community of monks gathered around him.
The work belongs to the Ava (Nyaungyan) period of Burma, a significant period in Burmese Buddhist art spanning the 16th to 18th centuries. The Ava tradition is particularly associated with the production of devotional Buddhist images in bronze and other media, continuing and transforming earlier Burmese sculptural traditions. A number of surviving 17th-century Burmese bronze Buddhas are preserved in major museum collections today.
 
Burma (Myanmar), Ava / Nyaungyan period, 17th century
Bronze
Height: 9.5 cm
Length: 16 cm