A gray schist figure of seated Buddha, Ancient Region of Gandhara, 2nd - 3rd century

Japanese Private Collection.

Sotheby's New York, 1st April 2005, lot 18.

The Buddha is shown in dhyanasana, his hands gathered on his lap, his finely pleated sanghati drawn over his shoulders and his tranquil face with a meditative expression. He is seated on a rectangular plinth framed with pilasters and inset with five figures also seated in meditation, possibly representing Dhyanibuddhas and bodhisattvas.

Images of the Buddha emerged during the Gandharan period, a time in which some of the finest examples of this subject were created. A prototype of an iconographic tradition that influenced the artistic depictions of Buddha across the Asian continent for centuries, the present lot shows Shakyamuni Buddha seated in meditation, blending both Hellenic style and Indic philosophies. Other examples of this kind are illustrated in Harald Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, New York, 1957, pl. 235 and Isao Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. II, Tokyo, 1990, pl. 193. Another slightly larger gray schist figure of Shakyamuni Buddha, formerly in the collection of John D. Rockefeller III, was sold in these rooms, 20th September 2021, lot 357. See also a later example, sold in these rooms, 20th September 2022, lot 101.