Lot Essay
The sarcophagus is surrounded by seven monks flanked by sal trees, some with their hands raised to their heads in a gesture of grief, with Upavana at center holding a flywhisk, a regal emblem in reference to Buddha as a universal monarch. According to the scriptures, Buddha was wrapped in five hundred layers of cloth and placed in a metal coffin; compare with a closely related but less detailed example formerly in the Gai Collection, in H. Ingolt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, 1957, fig. 144, also illustrated in I. Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. I, 2003, p. 235, fig. P4-IV; Kurita notes the rarity and exceptional quality of this relief, see p. 333.