Lot 404
404
A RARE GRAY SCHIST DOUBLE-SIDED BUST WITH BUDDHA AND MAITREYA
A RARE GRAY SCHIST DOUBLE-SIDED BUST WITH BUDDHA AND MAITREYA
A RARE GRAY SCHIST DOUBLE-SIDED BUST WITH BUDDHA AND MAITREYA
4 More
A RARE GRAY SCHIST DOUBLE-SIDED BUST WITH BUDDHA AND MAITREYA
7 More
GANDHARAN MASTERPIECES FROM A PRIVATE JAPANESE COLLECTION
A RARE GRAY SCHIST DOUBLE-SIDED BUST WITH BUDDHA AND MAITREYA

ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 3RD-4TH CENTURY CE

Details
A RARE GRAY SCHIST DOUBLE-SIDED BUST WITH BUDDHA AND MAITREYA
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 3RD-4TH CENTURY CE
15 ¾ in. (40 cm.) high
Provenance
Gai Collection, Peshawar, Pakistan, by 1957.
David Lindahl, Kyoto, Japan, by 1985.
Spink & Son, Ltd., London, by 1985.
Important private collection, Japan, by 1990.
Literature
H. Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, New York, 1957, pl. 276.
I. Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. II, Tokyo, 1990, p. 112, figs. 302 and 303.
M. Akira, Gandharan Art and Bamiyan Site, Tokyo, 2006, p. 57, no. 24.

Lot Essay

The present double-sided bust depicts Buddha Shakyamuni on one side, and presumably the bodhisattva (and future Buddha) Maitreya on the other. The hairstyle of the bodhisattva, with the locks of hair tied up in a topknot, is most commonly associated in the Gandharan context with Maitreya. As he is regarded as the future Buddha, the pairing of Maitreya with the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, in this double-sided bust reassuringly represents the spiritual enlightenment of the present era and projects future prosperity and peace in the era of Maitreya.

More from Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art

View All
View All