A Gray Schist Figure of a Bodhisattva
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A Gray Schist Figure of a Bodhisattva

GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY

Details
A Gray Schist Figure of a Bodhisattva
Gandhara, 2nd/3rd Century
Finely carved wearing a voluminous robe draped over his left shoulder, holding two lotus buds in his pendent left hand, his face with a benign expression with hair adorned with beaded strands
39½ in. (100.2 cm.) high

Lot Essay

The hand holding the lotus flower and bud is a rare feature in standing figures and particularly well executed in the present example. In the context of Gandharan art this may be interpreted as a figure of Padmapani, whereby the lotus is not necessarily held in an upright position as in the later Himalayan convention; compare the fragment of a hand with lotus in the Karachi Museum, see H. Ingolt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, 1957, cat. no. 459, and a figure of a Bodhisattva holding a bunch of lotus flowers in his right hand, in A. Grünwedel, Buddhist Art in India, 1901, p. 191, fig. 139.

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