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A SCHIST RELIEF PANEL OF DIPANKARA BUDDHA Breathing life into the composition, Dipankara Buddha is carved
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY with an elegant sway, as Indra’s robes descend whimsically around
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61557 his ankles to reveal his taught gluteus - the two representing an
12 1/8 X 13 in. (30.8 x 33 cm) illuminating blend of Indian and Greco-Roman sculptural leitmotifs.
The scene depicts what appears to be the most popular Jataka
$7,000 - 9,000 tale within the Gandharan archeological record. Here, the first of
Shakyamuni’s previous incarnations, a young Brahman named
犍陀羅 二/三世紀 片岩燃燈佛授記圖 Sumati, is holding the obligatory Brahmanic water pot to Dipankara
Buddha’s right . He has gone to great lengths to shower the Buddha
with a cluster of lotuses held in his upraised hand, impossible to
find after the local king bought up all flower stalls for the official
preparations of Dipankara Buddha’s visit. For further discussion of
the narrative, see Anasua Das in R.C. Sharma (ed.), Buddhism and
Gandhara Art, New Delhi, 2004, pp.108-16.

Provenance
J.C. Moreau-Gobard, Paris, 1963
Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Cecil Y. Lang
Sotheby’s, New York, 21 & 22 March 1990, lot 199
Sotheby’s, New York, 21 March 2002, lot 3
Private American Collection

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