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Lot Essay
Although the presented relief depicts Buddha Shakyamuni during a sermon and is flanked by the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara (of Compassion) and Maitreya (of the Future) and surrounded by various worshippers, it is unfortunate still not possible to identify the scene convincingly.
A relief with comparable scene but with additional figures of Brahma and Indra, from the former Claude de Marteau Collection, Brussels and for instance published in Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India by S. J. Czuma, Indiana University Press, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985, pl. 109, was unfortunate neither conclusively explained. The bejewelled tree above the Buddha of de Marteau relief might have suggested a sermon to other divinities in heaven. The presented relief displays, apart from the principle deities, just various human worshippers. Furthermore it lacks the tree but on the other hand has a lower plinth engraved with undulating lines simulating water from which the three lotus flowers are rising. This blending might suggest a more earthly occasion of the preaching Buddha than the other relief.
A further and comparable rectangular panel, dated second to fourth century, though again with tree emblem and mainly divine figures, was recently published by Marcel Nies Oriental Art, The Future Buddha: The cultural heritage of asia, Antwerp 2009, pp. 4-7. The presented panel is close in style to the Nies relief though probably slightly later in date. Both panels seem to be definitely later than the 182 A.D. inscribed example from the former de Marteau Collection. It is therefore proposed to date the offered panel to the third or perhaps early fourth century.
A relief with comparable scene but with additional figures of Brahma and Indra, from the former Claude de Marteau Collection, Brussels and for instance published in Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India by S. J. Czuma, Indiana University Press, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985, pl. 109, was unfortunate neither conclusively explained. The bejewelled tree above the Buddha of de Marteau relief might have suggested a sermon to other divinities in heaven. The presented relief displays, apart from the principle deities, just various human worshippers. Furthermore it lacks the tree but on the other hand has a lower plinth engraved with undulating lines simulating water from which the three lotus flowers are rising. This blending might suggest a more earthly occasion of the preaching Buddha than the other relief.
A further and comparable rectangular panel, dated second to fourth century, though again with tree emblem and mainly divine figures, was recently published by Marcel Nies Oriental Art, The Future Buddha: The cultural heritage of asia, Antwerp 2009, pp. 4-7. The presented panel is close in style to the Nies relief though probably slightly later in date. Both panels seem to be definitely later than the 182 A.D. inscribed example from the former de Marteau Collection. It is therefore proposed to date the offered panel to the third or perhaps early fourth century.