Page 68 - 2020 Sept 22 Himalayin and Indian Works of Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art | Sotheby's

School of art, a unique amalgam of East and West. Gandharan sculptures, as seen in the present lot, are executed in a strongly
'Classical' Greco-Roman style that was applied to a purely Buddhist and Indic iconography.

The hybrid character of Gandharan art found powerful expression in Buddhism, a new religion that was founded in northern India
towards the end of the first Millennium before the Common Era. The Buddhist creed, which placed emphasis on righteous and
moral deeds as the path to salvation, was embraced by the cosmopolitan population of Gandhara under the patronage of
successive Indo-Greek rulers. This patronage was continued by the mighty Kushan emperors who oversaw the construction of
hundreds of Buddhist temples and monasteries throughout their domain.

By the beginning of the Common Era, two strains or schools of thought had emerged in Buddhism, of which the Mahayana or the
Greater Vehicle form was popular in the region. Mahayana ideology advocated the expression of love and devotion to the Buddhist
principle as the chief element in the attainment of salvation. The medium through which this possibility of salvation was advanced
was the Bodhisattva (translated as Enlightenment Being), a sentient being who is ready to receive Enlightenment but voluntarily
postpones his own nirvana to transfer his merit to others so that they may cleanse their souls and achieve salvation. This altruistic
deity was thus revered as a repository of benevolence and compassion and his images were created in large numbers by
practitioners of the faith.

This elegantly modeled face displays the classic fusion of Indic and Hellenistic artistic traditions that characterized Gandharan art.
Indeed, the double-looped topknot crowing the deity's head is reminiscent of the kroibolis of the Apollo Belvedere and points
directly to Greek influence. The serene countenance with its contemplative and deeply spiritual expression is masterfully
executed. The jeweled headdress is part of the rich suite of aristocratic accoutrements known as bodhisattvabharana, which
indicated the deity's divine identity and also acted as symbols representing the material and spiritual wealth to be gained by lay
worshipers.

Compare the arrangement of the hair and headdress to a standing Bodhisattva; see H. Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, New
York, 1957, no. 295. Also compare the countenance of the face to a standing Bodhisattva in the British Museum, see W. Zwalf, A
Catalogue of Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum, 1996, no. 50.

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