A gray schist head of a bodhisattva

GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY

Details

A gray schist head of a bodhisattva
Gandhara, 2nd/3rd century
Very finely carved with full lips, drooping mustache, aquiline nose, and heavy-lidded eyes centered by a hollowed urna, the wavy locks of hair tied up in a topknot and secured with a headband centered with a triratna
9 in. (22.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Lawrence Phillips, New York
Private collection, London, acquired from Sotheby's New York, 20 March 2001, lot 54
Distinguished Private Collection, acquired from Sotheby's New York, 20 March 2002, lot 17

Sale room notice

Please note this work was acquired from Sotheby's New York on 20 September 2002, Lot 17

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Lot Essay

In the Gandharan context, the looped topknot found in the hairstyle of this particular work was generally reserved for the bodhisattva Maitreya (see lot 204). Amongst the extant examples, there is a great degree of variety of the ornamentation at the center of the headband. The present example is particularly unusual, being in the shape of the triratna, the stylized representation of the three jewels of Buddhism (the Buddha, the dharma, and the monkhood). The current work also retains much of its original polychromy, unusual for works in schist, and demonstrative of how these sculptures would have originally been completely painted.

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