Page 72 - 2020 September 23 Himalyan and Southeast Asian Works of Art Bonhams

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A SCHIST PANEL WITH BUDDHA A STUCCO FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARA
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 4TH/5TH CENTURY
9 x 18 in. (23 x 45.8 cm) With remains of red pigment.
21 in. (53.5 cm) high
$8,000 - 12,000
$20,000 - 30,000
犍陀羅 二/三世紀 片岩佛陀石碑
犍陀羅 四/五世紀 泥塑觀音像
Buddha has an elegant gait, walking beneath a pointed archway with
two supplicant putti and grape clusters on either side. A panel with From the renowned collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck, this
similar niches and supporting pillars with projecting brackets is in the refined and largely complete stucco figure of a bodhisattva depicts
British Museum (Zwalf, Gandharan Sculpture, London, 1990, p.227, Avalokiteshvara with his diagnostic lotus stem held by his left hand.
no.403). Also compare Luczanits, Gandhara, Mainz, 2009, p.325, Avalokiteshvara crouches on a large lotus flower, his feet pressed
no.222. Lastly, another panel almost certainly from the same initial firmly on its petals to support his naturalistic pose. His face is elegantly
monument was sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 23 March 1995, lot 265. modeled in three-quarters profile.

Provenance With his attention turned to the left, this sculpture likely formed part
Private New York Collection by 1990s of a common triad featuring Buddha flanked by the most prominent
bodhisattvas in Gandharan Buddhism, Maitreya, and Avalokiteshvara.
The remains of a similarly seated bodhisattva can be seen flanking a
niched central figure at Jaulian Monastery, Taxila (Ingholt, Gandharan
Art in Pakistan, New York, 1957, no.543). Also see a related stucco
bodhisattva seated in meditation (ibid., no.542), and a similarly seated
buddha in the British Museum (Zwalf, Gandharan Sculpture, London,
1990, p.310, no.587).

Provenance
The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection
Sotheby’s, New York, 4 June 1994, lot 64

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