Page 29 - Christies DEVOTION IN STONE Gandharan Art From a Japanese Collection Sept 23 2020 NYC

612
A GRAY SCHIST RELIEF WITH
THE BODHISATTVA MAITREYA
AND DEVOTEES
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA,
3RD-4TH CENTURY CE
16¡ in. (41.6 cm.) high; 27 in. (68.6 cm.) wide

$60,000-80,000
PROVENANCE:
Spink & Son, Ltd., London, by 1986.
Important private collection, Japan, by 1990.
LITERATURE:
I. Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. II, Tokyo, 1990,
p. 25, fig. 47.
M. Akira, ed., Iconography of Nirvana and Maitreya -
from India to Central Asia, Tokyo, 1992, no. 165.
M. Akira, Gandharan Art and Bamiyan Site, Tokyo,
2006, p. 52, no. 18.

The present lot, with Maitreya seated at center
flanked by a retinue of elegantly-ornamented
disciples bearing gifts, and celestial figures
above holding fly-whisks, depicts the trope of
bodhisattva adoration common throughout the
Gandharan idiom. The depiction of Maitreya
with crossed ankles, an expression developed in
Gandhara, had an unprecedented influence on
the later Buddhist art of East Asia. Here, the deep
relief is sensitively rendered, carved with superb
attention to the stylized chignons, individuated
facial features, powerful physical forms, and the
jewelry and raiment of the figures. Compare the
refined details of the current work with a slightly
earlier frieze depicting a similar scene, formerly
in the collection of Simon Digby and sold at
Christie’s London, 8 April 2011, lot 282; another
frieze depicting the adoration of Maitreya from
Christie’s New York, 23 March 2010, lot 148, and
also a frieze depicting Maitreya Preaching to an
Audience at the Museum für Indische Kunst,
Berlin (acc. no. MIK I 87).