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Lot Essay
This rare stele depicts the Buddha seated at center beneath the bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya at the seminal moment just before he achieves enlightenment. He is surrounded by six figures representing the seven weeks Buddha meditated in different locations around Bodh Gaya. The peripheral scenes illustrate different significant events from his life, culminating at the top with his achievement of parinirvana in death.
Stylistically, the Buddha's wide, square-shaped face, which rests on a thick neck over a stocky torso, relates to the original eleventh/twelfth century sculpture of Buddha in the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya, destroyed in the twelfth century. Directly influenced by prototypes from northeastern India, votive plaques such as the present work demonstrate the influence of the Pala-period aesthetic on the surrounding regions, particularly Tibet, Nepal and Burma (see S. Kossak, “A Group of Miniature Pala Stelae from Bengal,” Orientations, July/August 1998, pp.19-27). The presence of "Om Ah Hum" amongst various mantras carved into the verso suggests this work was worshiped by Tibetan devotees. Compare the overall image with an eleventh/twelfth century Burmese stele in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2015.500.4.23) and a Pala style stele with an almost identical iconographic narrative in the Rubin Museum of Art (C2005.4.2).
Stylistically, the Buddha's wide, square-shaped face, which rests on a thick neck over a stocky torso, relates to the original eleventh/twelfth century sculpture of Buddha in the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya, destroyed in the twelfth century. Directly influenced by prototypes from northeastern India, votive plaques such as the present work demonstrate the influence of the Pala-period aesthetic on the surrounding regions, particularly Tibet, Nepal and Burma (see S. Kossak, “A Group of Miniature Pala Stelae from Bengal,” Orientations, July/August 1998, pp.19-27). The presence of "Om Ah Hum" amongst various mantras carved into the verso suggests this work was worshiped by Tibetan devotees. Compare the overall image with an eleventh/twelfth century Burmese stele in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2015.500.4.23) and a Pala style stele with an almost identical iconographic narrative in the Rubin Museum of Art (C2005.4.2).