Page 6 - Bonhams, Indian and Himalayan Art New York July 23, 2020

803
THREE SCHIST PANELS WITH SCENES OF
SIDDHARTHA’S NATIVITY
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY
6 1/2 x 14 in. (16.7 x 35.5 cm), the largest;
5 1/4 x 12 3/4 in. (13.4 x 32.5 cm), the smallest
$5,000 - 7,000
犍陀羅 二/三世紀 片岩悉達多太子降生圖石碑 共三件

By way of size, subject, and composition, these three curved panels
are from the same workshop, or even stupa. The one of lesser height
might have appeared above the other two as the stupa tapered
upwards. Their scenes, depicted below bands of scrolling pipal leaves,
all relate to Buddha’s birth. The central panel depicts the Dream of
Maya (right), and the Bathing of Newborn Siddhartha (left) (cf. Kurita,
Gandharan Art, Vol.1, Tokyo, 1988, pp.25-6, nos.16-21). The right
panel depicts the Interpretation of Maya’s Dream (right), and Maya
traveling in a lion-drawn chariot to her hometown of Devadaha to
give birth to Siddhartha (which happened en-route) (cf. ibid., pp.25 &
34, nos.27, 30 & 38-40). The left panel depicts Maya and newborn
Siddhartha returning to Kapilavastu (center) with two nobles awaiting
their arrival (left) (cf. ibid., pp.41-2, nos.58 & 63-4).

Provenance
The Estate of Benjamin M. Rice II, New York, by 1998

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