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Lot Essay
This exceptional sculpture reveals numerous remarkable features. The scene illustrates the miracle of Sravasti where Buddha performed eight miracles to demonstrate his superiority over the Kasyapas. During the first miracle, Buddha levitated in the air, emitting flames from his shoulders and water from his feet (see lot 507 from this sale). During the second and decisive miracle, the two Naga kings, Nanda and Upananda, created a lotus on whose petals the Buddha seated himself and by supernatural power created multiple images of himself that issued all around him.
The present scene refers to this second miracle, but is reduced to its essential elements in an unusual abstraction. Buddha is seated on an inverted lotus throne, in turn supported by two elephants centered by a lion. The eminent early scholar Alfred Foucher first pointed out that the Sanskrit word naga denotes both serpent and elephant, allowing for the sculptor to draw on a linguistic pun and the interpretation of the two elephants as elephant-nagas evoking the serpent kings Nanda and Upananda, see H. Ingolt, Gandharan Sculpture in Pakistan, 1957, p. 125. The elephants' trunks appear serpentine in their upturned curved form supporting lotus buds; Ingolt illustrates a related example with a similar architectural setting, but far less refined in execution, with three elephants supporting the throne above water, clearly establishing the connection to the Sravasti miracle, see Ingholt, fig. XVI 4; a further example at the Peshawar Museum (Ingholt, fig. 257) and a smaller example (Ingholt, fig. 261) where the base is supported by three elephants surrounded by water; a frieze with the teaching Buddha in a similar architectural setting and on an inverted throne supported by two elephants centered by a lion is in the Matsuoka Collection, see Matsuoka Museum of Art, Ancient Sculptures from the Matsuoka Collection, 1994, pl. 13.
While it is reasonable to assume that many schist figures were originally polychromed, or in some cases gilt, following Graeco-Roman prototypes, only very few examples remain. In the present example, the figure of Buddha retains much of the original gilding. Upon close examination, the halo reveals fine detailing with a starburst design; further compare with I. Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. II, 2003, figs. 192 and 193, where the water-moistened state illustrated on p. 74 reveals a similar design on the halo. This type of design also appears in the halo of a bronze figure of Buddha at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Two additional fragments of a putto and the tip of an arch, originally forming part of the superstructure are included. The related fragments have been digitally inserted in the diagram at right.
The present scene refers to this second miracle, but is reduced to its essential elements in an unusual abstraction. Buddha is seated on an inverted lotus throne, in turn supported by two elephants centered by a lion. The eminent early scholar Alfred Foucher first pointed out that the Sanskrit word naga denotes both serpent and elephant, allowing for the sculptor to draw on a linguistic pun and the interpretation of the two elephants as elephant-nagas evoking the serpent kings Nanda and Upananda, see H. Ingolt, Gandharan Sculpture in Pakistan, 1957, p. 125. The elephants' trunks appear serpentine in their upturned curved form supporting lotus buds; Ingolt illustrates a related example with a similar architectural setting, but far less refined in execution, with three elephants supporting the throne above water, clearly establishing the connection to the Sravasti miracle, see Ingholt, fig. XVI 4; a further example at the Peshawar Museum (Ingholt, fig. 257) and a smaller example (Ingholt, fig. 261) where the base is supported by three elephants surrounded by water; a frieze with the teaching Buddha in a similar architectural setting and on an inverted throne supported by two elephants centered by a lion is in the Matsuoka Collection, see Matsuoka Museum of Art, Ancient Sculptures from the Matsuoka Collection, 1994, pl. 13.
While it is reasonable to assume that many schist figures were originally polychromed, or in some cases gilt, following Graeco-Roman prototypes, only very few examples remain. In the present example, the figure of Buddha retains much of the original gilding. Upon close examination, the halo reveals fine detailing with a starburst design; further compare with I. Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. II, 2003, figs. 192 and 193, where the water-moistened state illustrated on p. 74 reveals a similar design on the halo. This type of design also appears in the halo of a bronze figure of Buddha at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Two additional fragments of a putto and the tip of an arch, originally forming part of the superstructure are included. The related fragments have been digitally inserted in the diagram at right.