Page 52 - Christies DEVOTION IN STONE Gandharan Art From a Japanese Collection Sept 23 2020 NYC
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A GREEN SCHIST RELIEF WITH THE FOUR ENCOUNTERS Narrative reliefs with sequential scenes from the Buddha's life became
AND THE GREAT RENUNCIATION enormously popular in Gandharan art and emphasized the Buddha’s physical
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 3RD-4TH CENTURY CE presence at the embellished site. The present lot, which depicts the Four
10æ in. (27.3 cm.) high; 30º in. (76.8 cm.) wide Encounters and the Great Renunciation, is probably a section of a larger
arrangement that ornamented the side of a stupa.
$50,000-70,000
The scene at proper left depicts the Four Encounters, when Siddhartha first
PROVENANCE: traveled outside the palace grounds with his charioteer, Chandaka. Having
Private collection, Europe, by 1988.
Important private collection, Japan, by 1990. been sheltered by his father for his entire life, Siddhartha finally witnesses
the inevitability of age, illness, and death. Before returning to the palace,
LITERATURE: he encounters an ascetic seeking to find the cause of human suffering, and
I. Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. I, Tokyo, 1988, p. 14, P1-X. determines to follow the ascetic's example. The following scene, separated by
M. Akira, Gandharan Art and Bamiyan Site, Tokyo, 2006, p. 78, no. 42.
a Corinthian column, depicts Siddhartha beside his sleeping wife Yasodhara,
saying goodbye before he secretly leaves the palace to become an ascetic
against his father’s will.
Compare the present lot with a related example depicting the Great
Renunciation in the British Museum, illustrated by W. Zwalf in A Catalogue of
50 the Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum, p. 106.
