GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY

Details

A Gray Schist Figure of a Bodhisattva
Gandhara, 2nd/3rd Century
Very finely carved standing in samapada, wearing loosely flowing robes with elegantly pleated folds draped across his left shoulder and swirling up from around his legs, and a beaded necklace with pendant, his rounded face with a benign expression and hair with curls cascading down over his shoulders and gathered in a domed topknot, the torso very finely modeled and with a smooth surface
38¼ in. (97 cm.) high

Literature

I. Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. II, The World of the Buddha, 1990, cat. no. 1.

Special notice

This lot is offered subject to a reserve, which is the confidential minimum price below which the lot will not be sold.

Lot Essay

This superbly carved schist figure exemplifies a mature "baroque" style, a 'tour-de-force' in carving, at once refined and exuberant, with the restrained modeling of the torso juxtaposed against the swirling draperies. Kurita, in Gandharan Art, op. cit., attributes it to Sahri-Bahlol. A formally corresponding figure of more modest size and execution is published by H. Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, 1957, cat. no. 282, from inside the Great Stupa at Sahri Bahlol. The very distinct 'forked' folds of the drapery, as well as the zigzag folds at the edge of the robe falling from the shoulder, demonstrate that sculptures such as the present example served as the Gandharan prototype for the evolution of style as far away as the Northern Wei Yungang caves in Shanxi Province, China.
Compare another related example with the distinctive forked pleats and crescent pendant, from the Armand Trampitsch collection, sold at Christie's London, 10 October 1989, lot 241.

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