Page 50 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013
P. 50
59 60
A schist figure of Maitreya
59 Ancient region of Gandhara, circa 3rd century
A green schist relief panel with two ascetics The life size future Buddha seated on a raised plinth with central
Ancient region of Gandhara, circa 3rd century offering, with his hands resting in dhyana mudra and holding the elixir
Exceptionally carved in high relief with two ascetics wearing long of life contained within the kundika acutely modeled in the shape of a
flowing robes and wavy locks, one seated with a water pot between downturned lotus bud, the finely carved stylized folds of his sanghati
his feet, a scared chord draped over his emaciated torso, his left hand elegantly pooling in concentric rings at his ankles and spilling over the
upraised, and his face with almond-shaped eyes and unkempt facial edge of the base, bedecked with various necklaces including a large
hair; the other kneeling with his back turned away from the viewer choker with inset design and talismanic armlets, the right revealing a lotus
resting his weight on the arch of his right foot, holding the remnants from underneath the tightly pulled robe, his mustached face with aquiline
of the water pot in his left hand and with his right pressed against his nose and steadfast gaze from heavily-lidded eyes, flanked by pendant
forehead shielding his modeled face. earrings and centered by an incised urna, his wavy curls pulled over the
11 1/4 in. (28.5 cm) long domed ushnisha and cascading to his shoulders, secured by a beaded
$8,000 - 12,000 headdress comprising a network of beads interlinked between horizontal
bands that rest above the forehead and wrap around the ushnisha.
Carved with an expressive flair, in their original context lining a stupa 42 in. (106.6 cm) high
these ascetics would have either been part of narrative panel below a $40,000 - 60,000
central icon of Buddha, or a non-narrative decorative band depicting
disciples and followers. If part of a narrative, it is possible that the scene With a broad muscular torso, strong hands, and ornate stylized
would have represented the conversion of the sixteen disciples of Bavari folds, this near life-size sculpture exhibits the power and authority of
who were sent to scrutinize Buddha. Various depictions can be seen in Maitreya, believed to reside in Tushita heaven until the time comes when
Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, New York, 1957, pls. 107-8 and Shakyamuni is no longer remembered and the future Buddha will need
Zwalf, A Catalogue of the Gandharan Sculpture in the British Museum, to be reborn.
London, 1996, nos. 222 & 500. Reinforcing the validity of Buddha’s
teachings, such images of profoundly affected disciples were important It speaks to important developments in Buddhist sculpture and worship
progenitors of the faith. occurring in the ancient region of Gandhara around the 3rd century,
coinciding with a transition from Nikaya to Mahayana Buddhist worship
Published: in the region. Firstly, iconic shrines such as this became the focus of
Simon Ray, London, 2004, no. 1, p. 6-7. veneration, replacing worship of relics and stupas with the large-scale
production of images of Buddha and of bodhisattvas. Testament to this,
Buddha’s alms bowl, represented here at the base of the plinth, was an
important relic housed in Gandhara and visited by Chinese pilgrims, but
seems to vanish from Gandharan sculpture by the end of the 3rd century
(Behrendt, The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, 2007, p. 56).
Secondly, the present lot represents the rise in popularity of the worship
of Maitreya at Gandhara and further afield. He is identified here by the
remarkably detailed water vessel (kundika) dangling from his fingers by the
spout. The most elaborate of these vessels, in connection with Gandharan
reliquaries, mimic the bulbous shapes of lotuses or fruits. Compare to
one such example held by a standing Maitreya and a reliquary located in
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (ibid., no. 42, p. 54 & no. 21, p. 24). As
Mahayana Buddhism spread from Gandhara to China, images of Maitreya
became the focal point of a widespread cult, the idea of a messianic savior
appealing to many living under the chaotic political climate and civil unrest
of the Six Dynasties Period (220-589 CE) following the collapse of the
Western Han Dynasty in the beginning of the 3rd century - the time around
which this sculpture was made. The link between the art of Gandhara and
early Buddha images in China is clearly demonstrated through a comparison
of the facial features and robes between the present lot and a gilt bronze
Buddha held in the Harvard Art Museums (1943.53.80.A) believed to be the
earliest devotional Buddhist image made in China.
Provenance:
Private Californian Collection
Collected in the late 1960s by an architect based in Rawalpindi working at
the behest of Ayub Khan on the design of Islamabad
48 | Bonhams
