Page 12 - Christies DEVOTION IN STONE Gandharan Art From a Japanese Collection Sept 23 2020 NYC

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A GRAY SCHIST STAIR-RISER RELIEF OF A GREEN SCHIST DECORATIVE RELIEF A GRAY SCHIST RELIEF WITH
A MYTHICAL BEAST WITH A LOTUS AND COLUMN LOTIFORM MOTIF
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA,
3RD-4TH CENTURY CE PROBABLY SWAT VALLEY, 2ND-4TH 3RD-4TH CENTURY CE
8¬ in. (21.9 cm.) high; 9√ in. (25.1 cm.) wide CENTURY CE 7√ in. (20 cm.) high; 17º in. (43.8 cm.) wide
6¡ in. (16.2 cm.) high; 8¡ in. (21.3 cm.) wide
$3,000-5,000 $8,000-12,000
$5,000-7,000
PROVENANCE: PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Japan, before 1990. PROVENANCE: Private collection, Europe before 1990.
Important private collection, Japan, by 1990. Private collection, Japan, before 1990. Important private collection, Japan, by 1990.
Important private collection, Japan, by 1990.
LITERATURE: LITERATURE:
I. Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. II, Tokyo, 1990, LITERATURE: I. Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. II, Tokyo, 1990,
p. 247, fig. 745. I. Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. II, Tokyo, 1990, p. 230, fig. 687.
p. 226, fig. 672. M. Akira, Gandharan Art and Bamiyan Site, Tokyo,
2006, p. 97, no. 66.
This triangular relief likely once decorated the
interior panel of the steps leading up to a stupa
base. The subject, a mythical beast resembling a
plump cockerel, suggests Hellenistic or Scythian
influence and speaks to the intermixing of Indo-
Greek and Indo-Scythian peoples in the Buddhist
region of Gandhara. For a diagram replicating
a riser’s placement at a stupa and a further
discussion, see K. Behrendt, The Art of Gandhara,
2007, p. 27, fig. II. A comparable pair of stair risers,
including a similarly depicted mythical cockerel,
was sold at Christie’s New York 12 September
2012, lot 517.

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