Page 32 - Christies DEVOTION IN STONE Gandharan Art From a Japanese Collection Sept 23 2020 NYC

A Large And Important Bodhisattva

This superb figure of a bodhisattva is a paragon of Gandharan schist their intended figures. From among these remaining examples, there are
sculpture, its abundance of intricately carved details matched in quality by several distinct types or tropes that can be identified. One type, depicting a
the extraordinary naturalism of the youthful figure and the large scale of the seated figure of Buddha (and as previously mentioned, found on the figure of
sculpture. Depicting an unidentified bodhisattva in the regal dress of an Indian Avalokiteshvara from lot 609), is commonly associated with Avalokiteshvara,
prince, the figure captures the spiritual enlightenment of a semi-divine being and in subsequent centuries and amidst disparate cultures, becomes the key
who has postponed nirvana in order to act as a compassionate guide to those identifying attribute of that particular bodhisattva. Another type depicts a
seeking enlightenment on earth. figure of Garuda abducting a female nagini which borrows aesthetically from
the Hellenistic myth of Ganymede being abducted by Zeus in the form of
With the rise of Mahayana Buddhism in the first few centuries of the Common an eagle. A third type shows a lion emerging frontally from the center of the
Era, bodhisattvas took on a new and profound importance in Buddhist cockade with pearls hanging from his paws, in a manner not dissimilar from
worship. While earlier practice had focused on the teachings of the Buddha the lions at the sides of the turban in the present lot. Both the Garuda and lion
Shakyamuni, and for the populist masses, worship of the Buddha’s relics as motifs can be found in later images of Vishnu, demonstrating the syncretism
enshrined in the stupa, the sutras of Mahayana Buddhism expanded on the role and confluence of religions in the Gandharan region (for further discussion of
of bodhisattvas as cult deities worthy of worship in their own right. Perhaps this topic, see C. Bautze-Picron, “A Neglected Aspect of Vishnu Iconography
the two most important of the bodhisattvas within the new forms of worship and other Gods and Goddesses,” Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art,
were Maitreya, considered to be the buddha of the future, and Avalokiteshvara, New Series, vols. XXVIII & XXIX, 2011-2013, pp. 81-92).
the bodhisattva of compassion. These two figures can be found flanking the
central figure of Buddha Shakyamuni in the important triad from the present The lavish decoration of the figure extends to the luxurious jewelry in which
collection (lot 609); Avalokiteshvara is in this case identified by the small the bodhisattva is bedecked. The proper right ear is pierced with addorsed
image of Buddha in his turban, while Maitreya is missing his identifying torsos of lions supporting strands of pearls, repeating the motif found on the
attribute but would have likely held a water pot in his proper left hand. turban. Further down, his chest is adorned with a series of necklaces and
sacred threads, each based on actual jewelry types that are known from found
The present figure is missing the attributes that would have allowed for instant extant examples. Closest to his neck is a wide torc decorated with medallions
recognition by worshippers, but it is likely the figure was intended to represent carved in the form of faceted gems and interspersed by strands of pearls.
Avalokiteshvara. In the tropes of the mature Gandharan style, Maitreya is Over the torc hangs a heavy five-chained necklace joined at the chest with
often depicted with long, curly locks of hair, either held in a topknot on top dragon-head-form clasps, which are in turn connected by another faceted
of the head or secured in beaded strands of pearls that crisscross the bun on gem. Such necklaces were likely made by joining thousands of small gold
top of his head, and usually holds a water pot. In contrast, Avalokiteshvara is loops into larger chains, as evidenced by an example found at Dalverzine-tepe
sometimes shown holding a flower in his pendent left hand (giving rise to his in Uzbekistan, illustrated by C. Woodford Schmidt in “The Sacred and Secular:
epithet, Padmapani, literally, ‘holder of the lotus’), and wearing an elaborate Jewellery in Buddhist Sculpture in the Northern Kushan Realm,” The Jewels of
jeweled turban. See, for example, a large schist figure of Avalokiteshvara in India, Bombay, 1995, p. 31, fig. 14. Another multi-strand chain necklace hangs
the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, illustrated by P. diagonally across his chest, and at one point would have looped over his proper
Pal in Indian Sculpture, vol. 1, Los Angeles, 1986, p. 167, no. S45, in which the right shoulder; the thin section of stone that spans the gap from his chest to
turbaned bodhisattva holds a lotus blossom in his pendent left hand. shoulder was at one point completely carved in openwork, demonstrating a
virtuosity on the part of the sculptor. The final strand of jewelry runs from his
In the Gandharan context, the turban found on images of bodhisattvas (and
proper left shoulder to the right side of his ribcage, and supports small beads
in particular, Avalokiteshvara) is perhaps the most important symbol of
and amulet boxes which would have held rolled up sutras; extant examples
royal regalia and divine status. While the basic form of the turban is found
of this form can be found in the collection of the British Museum (acc. no.
in images of yakshas as early as the Mauryan period (4th-2nd century BCE),
1880.29).
and became a common motif in chauri bearer figures in Mathuran Buddhist
art, the representation of the turban reached its apogee in ornamentation in The bodhisattva’s upper robes are draped languidly over the proper left
the mature Gandharan style. The ebullience of decoration and complexity is shoulder, and have been carved to suggest the form of a foliate armlet at the
executed in the present lot with particular aplomb. The folds of the turban proper left bicep, which at one time would have been mirrored by an exposed
are wrapped around the head, and secured above the forehead with a circular armlet at the other arm. One part of the upper garment hangs dynamically in a
medallion carved in the form of a bezel-cut gem, which is flanked on either wide swoop across the upper thighs from hip to hip, while the folds of the lower
side by the addorsed faces of makaras, their mouths agape. Stemming from garment, the dhoti, fall rhythmically to the ankles. The dhoti is secured at the
the makara faces at center is a band with the torsos of lions emerging frontally, waist with a rope-form belt, synched with an elaborate knot, and the belt itself
their paws supporting strands of pearls; this motif is found in earlier images is incised with a repeating pattern and the ends terminate in reliquary-form
of Kushan kings, including a red sandstone figure of Huvishka, from circa beads. The feet of the bodhisattva are clad in sandals with lion-head beads
40 CE, now in the Government Museum, Mathura. Apart from their royal spouting strands of pearls that form the thongs of the sandals, again repeating
connotations, the lions may reference the form of Avalokiteshvara known as the motif found in the turban and earrings.
Simhanada, meaning the “lion’s roar,” signifying Avalokiteshvara’s role as a
reciter of the Buddha’s teachings (the lion in this case being the lion of the The front of the base upon which the bodhisattva stands depicts figures in
Shakya clan, Gautama Buddha). adoration of a meditating bodhisattva, possibly Maitreya, based on the style
of hair and decoration of the figure.
The centerpiece of the turban, and the area most often elaborately decorated,
was the tufted cockade at the front of the head, where loose folds of Compare the present figure with a monumental gray schist figure of a
fabric were pulled through a knot and elaborately arranged to support an bodhisattva sold at Christie’s New York, 13 September 2016, lot 229; both
ornamental sarpeche or diadem. In many instances of Gandharan sculpture, figures are similarly garbed and adorned, although the latter example is
and indeed as is the case in the present example, the tufted cockade was considerably more worn than the present figure, which is in a particularly fine
separately carved and inserted into a keystone-shaped mortice (although in state of preservation.
many cases, the separately-carved cockade was lost or damaged). Extant
examples of bodhisattva figures with remaining cockades do exist, however,
and there are even examples of the cockades themselves, separated from