GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY

Details

A large gray schist figure of a standing Buddha
Gandhara, 2nd/3rd century
Superbly carved standing on a plinth with worshippers flanking a stupa, wearing voluminous robes with cascading folds, his left hand lowered, his face in a benign expression with crisply delineated features and elongated earlobes, his hair arranged in fine curls rising over the usnisha, his face backed by a smooth nimbus
45½ in. (115.6 cm.) high

Provenance

Acquired before 1972

Exhibited

Aspects of Indo-Asian Art, University of Redlands, California, February-March, 1972

Lot Essay

With the growing popularity of Mahayana Buddhism around the 2nd century large detached images were sculpted alongside narrative friezes. This is a superbly executed sculpture of a standing Buddha characteristic for the high point of Gandharan art, among the very best in terms of refinement in carving and in an excellent state of preservation. Buddha wears monastic garments, very elegantly draped across both shoulders, wrapped around the arms and revealing further undergarments. The fingers of the pendent left hand are very finely carved and polished, as are the facial features. The undulating strands of hair and curls of the topknot are extremely finely detailed.
For related examples in the Peshawar Museum, see H. Ingolt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, 1957, figs. 206 and 215.

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