Page 9 - Bonhams, Indian and Himalayan Art New York July 23, 2020

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A SCHIST PANEL WITH THE PREPARATION The panel’s carved plinth betrays its original purpose as one side of
OF THE SEAT OF ENLIGHTENMENT the square base of a Gandharan model stupa. This is demonstrated
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY by one such complete stupa preserved in The Indian Museum,
6 1/8 x 19 3/4 in. (15.6 x 50.3 cm) Kolkata (Luczanits (ed.), Gandhara, Mainz, 2008, p.174, abb.4). Other
dispersed panels of the same quality and with integral plinths are
$10,000 - 15,000 published in Kurita, Gandharan Art, Vol.1, Tokyo, 1988, pp.165 & 182,
nos.319 & 362. The present frieze also compares favorably to another
犍陀羅 二/三世紀 片岩就近菩提座圖石碑 of the same composition in the Peshawar Museum (Luczanits (ed.),
op. cit., p.224, no.161).
Of superior carving in high relief, this panel features two scenes which
combine to represent The Preparation of the Seat of Enlightenment Provenance
from the life of Buddha. Read right to left, the first centers on The Estate of Benjamin M. Rice II, New York, by 1998
Siddhartha amidst a deferential entourage receiving kusha grass
from an ascetic which he would then sit on underneath the Bodhi
tree. The second depicts Buddha receiving the dispensation from the
goddess of the Bodhi tree to meditate under it. Meanwhile, behind
the tree spirit, Mara, with a grotesque torso, leans against the first of
his daughters he would employ to try to tempt Siddhartha away from
spiritual attainment. Further back, Mara’s second daughter cranes her
neck to glimpse Siddhartha. Her pose, as if inspired by an observed
model, epitomizes the high quality of this classical Gandharan frieze.

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