Page 98 - March 23 2022 Boinghams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art

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A GRAY SCHIST HEAD OF BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 3RD-4TH CENTURY CE
8º in. (21 cm.) high
$10,000-15,000
PROVENANCE:
Spink & Son, Ltd., London, 1930, by repute.
Giorgio Sangiori, Rome, acquired from the above.
Collection of Dr. Otto Wittman, Toledo, Ohio, 6 October 1955.
Thence by descent.

This sensitively modeled head of Buddha Shakyamuni demonstrates the
serene, naturalist qualities of Buddhist art from the Gandharan period.
Buddha's rounded face is finely modeled with a still expression. His bow-
shaped mouth and heavy-lidded, almond-shaped eyes beneath arched
eyebrows suggest a deeply meditative state. Rows of wavy tendrils rise over
the ushnisha, a sign of his supreme enlightenment.
Otto Wittmann Jr. (1911-2001) played an outsized role in the development of
American museums over the course of the twentieth century. Born in Kansas
City, Wittmann first became fascinated with art while attending Harvard
University, where he organized exhibitions as a senior with Perry Rathbone
(the future director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) and later took
the famed “Museum Work and Museum Problems” course with Professor
Paul J. Sachs. In 1941, Wittmann was drafted in to the U.S. Army and later
became the Officer in Charge of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS),
where he traveled to Europe several times to investigate the Nazi looting of
art as part of the famed “Monuments Men.” Upon his return to the U.S. in
1946, Wittmann began a thirty-year career at the Toledo Museum of Art,
including as its director, beginning in 1959. At Toledo, Wittmann organized
several landmark exhibitions including France: The Splendid Century (1961)
and The Age of Rembrandt (1966); his tenure was also marked by a number of
important acquisitions that transformed Toledo into one of the most important
institutions in America. Following his retirement in 1976, Wittmann then
served as the chair of the acquisitions committee at the J. Paul Getty Museum,
where he was also acting Chief Curator from 1980-1983.

古犍陀羅 三/四世紀 灰片岩釋迦牟尼佛首
來源:
Spink & Son, Ltd., 倫敦, 1930年 (傳)
Giorgio Sangiori, 羅馬, 得自上述者
Dr. Otto Wittman珍藏, 托萊多, 俄亥俄州, 1955年10月6日
後家族傳承

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