Page 10 - Bonhams March 22 2022 Indian and Himalayan Art NYC

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A SCHIST HEAD OF SIDDHARTHA
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 3RD/4TH CENTURY
10 1/2 in. (26.7 cm) high

$15,000 - 20,000

犍陀羅 三/四世紀 片岩悉達多太子像

Encompassing Northeastern Afghanistan and Northwestern Pakistan, the ancient region of
Gandhara stood at the crossroads between the Mediterranean, the Near East, India, and
Central Asia. The sculptural heritage of Gandhara is a product of local adaptations of elements
from near and far, often resulting in a wonderfully cosmopolitan style.

This head of a bodhisattva dons an elaborate Kushan turban, detailed with restraining bands,
cut and set stones, plaques in the form of auspicious drakes and Indic makara heads, and
ruffled fabric surrounding a crest depicting a maiden standing before a pair of eagle wings.
The crest’s motif is most likely derived from an episode in the Jataka tales in which a queen
is abducted by Garuda, a mythical eagle. See Gandharan sculptures featuring this motif in
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1980.325) and the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London (IS.5-1973). The reference to a narrative from the Jataka tales, which recount the
previous lives of the bodhisattva who went on to be reborn as Siddhartha Gautama, suggests
the subject of this sculpture is likely prince Siddhartha. For a detailed discussion and a closely
related example from the same Dutch collection, see Bonhams, New York, 23 July 2020, lot
809. Also see a head of a bodhisattva with a similar, but incomplete turban sold at Bonhams,
New York, 19 March 2018, lot 3067, and another head of lesser condition with the same crest
motif sold at Christie’s, New York, 21 September 2021, lot 440.

Provenance:
Private Dutch Collection by 1958
Thence by descent

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