Extremely rare standing fire-gilt bronze Buddha from the Kandy Kingdom. Typical example of the royal patronage masterpieces of the highest quality, today displayed almost only in the major museums of the world, it shows some influences from european art of the early 18th century, as in the "rocaille" features that are clearly visible in some details of the flame ornament ("siraspata") atop the head. As Janet Baker pointed out in her publication "Guardian of the Flame: Art of Sri Lanka" (Phoenix Art Museum, 8 February – 11 May 2003), these images, done by royal commission, are distinguished from more vernacular examples by virtue of a more elongated face informed by the breadth of King Kirti Sri Rajasinha's (r.1747-82) finger used as the basic unit of measurement in formulating the image's iconometry (pp.41-9 & 131-3). Two other examples of a royal Kandyan gilt bronze Buddha of this quality, cast under royal patronage, were sold one at Bonhams, sale of Hong Kong 3 oct. 2017, "Images of Devotion", lot n. 39, and the other at Christie's, New York, 20 March 2002, lot 35. The present sculture, along with the other ones sold at Bonham's and Christie's, excels for the serenity of his expression and the sensitive modeling of the body underneath his mesmerizing robe, and for the thick and resplendent fire gilding, perfectly preserved. Sri Lanka. Kandy kingdom, circa 1750 - 1770.