Page 16 - Sotheby's Indian Himalayan and Southeast Asian Wroks of Art March 2019

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PROPERTY OF A LADY LITERATURE in Uttar Pradesh, cf. a standing Buddha with right
A LARGE BLACK STONE FIGURE OF B. Rowland, The Evolution of the Buddha Image, hand lowered in varada mudra in The Golden Age
BUDDHA 1963, pl. 18, p. 132. of Classical India: The Gupta Empire, Paris, p. 181,
cat. no. 25. Black stone is however the common
Eastern India, Bihar, Pre-Pala Period, F. Asher, The Art of Eastern India, 300-800, 1980, medium for eastern Indian sculpture as seen
pl. 146, p. 77f.
7th Century, or Early Pala period in two circa seventh century seated Vajrasana
(c. 750-1200) This important eastern Indian sculpture depicts Buddhas from Bihar in a similar style to the
the historical Buddha Shakyamuni worshipped present example, with muscular physique, ratna
the Buddha with his left hand raised holding the by his successor Maitreya kneeling as an ascetic finials on the backplates and simple undecorated
hem of his diaphanous robe, the right lowered in adoration at his side. Two other eastern Indian pedestals, wearing similar diaphanous robes but
in varada mudra, standing on a rectangular sixth to eighth century black stone examples off the right shoulder, see Susan L. Huntington,
plinth in slight abhanga against a gently curved of this rare iconography were unearthed during “The Pala-Sena” Schools of Sculpture, Leiden,
and tapering backplate with ratna finials, a halo construction work in 1861 from the site of an 1984, pls. 8, 15. A late sixth or seventh century
surrounding the head incised around the rim with ancient monastery at Sultanganj, Bihar. One, black stone sculpture of Shakyamuni Buddha’s
Buddhist creed continuing down the right of the dated to the sixth or seventh century pre-Pala First Sermon from Telhara in Patna district, Bihar,
backplate, Maitreya kneeling below in adoration period, is now in The Avery Brundage Collection depicts the Buddha wearing a similar diaphanous
with hands in anjali mudra holding the stem of a in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and robe with the same style of ribbed neckline as the
lotus, and hair drawn up in jatamukuta shows Maitreya kneeling at the left as in the present example, and small figures of standing
Height 42½ in. (108 cm.) present example, see Susan L. Huntington and Buddhas either side of the halo in place of the
John C. Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: ratna on the backplate, ibid, pl. 14. The present
PROVENANCE The Art of Pala India (8th-12th centuries) and Its example has more stylistic features in common
Christie’s New York, March 21, 2007, lot 245. International Legacy, Seattle and London, p. 123, with these sculptures from Patna and Gaya
Private American Collection. pl. 1: the other, dated seventh or eighth century, districts than the two Sultanganj Buddhas of the
Collection of Frank Caro. now in The British Museum has the future Buddha same iconography, although all are of the same
C.T. Loo, New York (before 1950) [C.T. Loo kneeling at the right, see Zwalf, ed, Buddhism: Pre-Pala or very early Pala periods: compare
Archive, Institute of Fine Arts, New York Art and Faith, London, p. 105, cat no. 139. The also the muscular physique, gentle abhanga
University, negative no. (InsB) 205-209]. diaphanous robe with simple ribbed neckline and the treatment of the knees, delineated by
and the subtle abhanga of the present example a simple incised crescent, of a seventh century
EXHIBITED echoes the classical Gupta aesthetic of fifth bodhisattva from Nalanda in Patna district, ibid
New York, Asia House Gallery, The Evolution of century buff sandstone sculpture from Sarnath pl. 123.
the Buddha Image, 1963, cat. no. 18.
$ 250,000-350,000

Detail of Maitreya

14 SOTHEBY’S