A gray schist standing figure of Maitreya, Ancient region of Gandhara, 2nd - 4th century | 犍陀羅 二至四世紀 灰片岩雕彌勒佛立像

Recorded as in the medical cabinet office of Dr Willocx, 196A Avenue Louise in Bruxelles on 24th June 1974, in an expertise certificate issued by Claude de Marteau.

__________________________________________________________________________

由克勞德‧德‧馬圖開立之估價鑑定證明，布魯塞爾，1974年6月24日

The present figure is a depiction of Maitreya bodhisattva with a robe (uttarīya) draped over the left shoulder and a dhoti tied at the waist, bodhisattva jewellery adorning the naked torso, including necklaces, upper arm bands and earrings, wearing a moustache and long hair drawn up in a high chignon bound with a jewelled band.

The missing right hand would have been raised in what was likely a gesture of reassurance (abhaya mudra) and the left hand lowered, probably holding the water pot (kalasha), a principal attribute of the bodhisattva Maitreya. Compare similar Gandhara sculpture depicting Maitreya with a moustache and hair tresses bound by a jewelled band, in Wladimir Zwalf, Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum, London, 1996, Vol. II, pls. 53 and 57, and others with hands intact in abhaya mudra and holding the kalasha, ibid., pls. 51 and 59.

__________________________________________________________________________

此立像典雅俊美，披著天衣，連珠帶飾箍住袒露的上身，蓄髭鬚，髮辮自然捲曲。缺失的右手應呈無畏印，左手或持水瓶。可見大英博物館數例，著錄於W. Zwalf作，《,Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum》，倫敦，1996年，圖版51、53、57及59。