Page 54 - 2019 September 11th Christie's New York Chiense Art Himalayan bronzes and art

PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION

321
A GREY SCHIST BUDDHAPADA
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 2ND-3RD CENTURY
19Ω (49.5 cm.) high

$30,000-50,000

PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s New York, 20 March 1997, lot 36.
The historical Buddha was frst revered through symbols rather than through
fgurative images, as the Buddha himself professed the danger of attachment
to icons in his own pursuit of enlightenment. Depictions of a bodhi tree, an
empty throne, a riderless horse, a chakra or wheel, a parasol and footprints
of the Buddha were all examples of what is now known as the early “aniconic
phase” of Buddhist art, in which the presence of the Buddha was inferred
through his absence. This tradition developed during the Mauryan Empire in
the third-frst centuries BCE, and was referenced in the later Graeco-Buddhist
artistic traditions throughout the ancient region of Gandhara.
In a preliterate era, a work of art such as the present lot would have played
a powerful role in the transmission of Buddhist philosophy. In the current
work, each toe print is adorned with a swastika, an ancient Indic symbol of
peace and fertility. In the center of each footprint is a many-spoked dharma
chakra or wheel of law, which represents the Buddha’s frst sermon, known as
“Turning the Wheel of Dharma”. The upper right and left corners are adorned
with a simple foliate motif. Compare the current work with another grey schist
buddhapada from the ancient region of Gandhara, see lot 318.

The predominate medium of Gandharan sculpture, grey schist, has an
abundant mica content, which is evidenced in the current work.

Buddhapada; South Asia, ancient Gandhara, 2nd or 3rd century c.e.;
Gray schist, dimensions unknown. Private collection, Japan, after D.
A. Sensabaugh, “Footprints of the Buddha,” Yale University Art Gallery
Bulletin, 2017, pp. 84-89.