Page 42 - Indian and Himilayan Art

ANOTHER PROPERTY

230
A GRAY SCHIST FIGURE OF A STANDING BUDDHA
GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY
38Ω in. (97.8 cm.) high
$100,000-200,000

PROVENANCE:

Sotheby’s London, 19 October 1995, lot 188.
Private collection, Argentina, acquired from the above.
The two devotees kneeling on either side of this
beautifully carved fgure of Buddha are extremely rare.
These fgures are backed by halos, denoting their divine
status as Indra and Brahma. While narrative scenes
are usually relegated to the base or to accompanying
friezes, there are few examples in which narrative fgures
accompany the main fgure in the same plane. The
proportions and style of the devotees can be compared
to those in a fgure of Maitreya at the British Museum
(1904.12-17.1: see W. Zwalf, A Catalogue of the Gandhara
Sculpture in the British Museum, London, Vol I pp.99-
100, Vol II p.40, fg. 55).

detail