GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY

With larger standing figures the protruding right hand in the gesture of abhaya mudra was often separately carved and attached, but subsequently lost. It is comparatively rare to have both hands intact and particularly significant in the present example, as the gestures of the hands are most eloquently contrasted to the treatment of the drapery. It is also rare to find the chakra incised in relief on the palm of the hand; compare with a figure of a Bodhisattva at the Royal Ontario Museum, in I. Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. II, 1990, p. 48, fig. 117.