A Gray Schist Frieze

GANDHARA, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY

Details

A Gray Schist Frieze
Gandhara, circa 3rd Century
Carved in relief with a central figure of Buddha holding out an empty bowl toward two boys and flanked by numerous attendants within a rectangular frame
10 x 15 in. (27.4 x 38.8 cm.)

Provenance

Excavated under the auspices of Giuseppe Tucci and acquired by the present owner between 1958-61.

Lot Essay

The subject is the Offering of Dust and recounts how two boys, Jaya and Vijaya, were playing in the dust and saw the Buddha on his begging round. Jaya gave him a handful of dust calling it meal. Pronouncing an aspiration to universal monarchy, the Buddha predicted his rebirth as the emperor Ashoka; for a similar example, see W. Zwalf, A Catalogue of Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum, 1996, vol. 1, p. 196, cat. no. 217.

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