A fine schist figure of a standing Buddha Gandhara, 2nd / 3rd Century

a round halo framing his meditative face with bow-shaped lips and elongated downcast eyes beneath arched eyebrows, his forehead centering a small urna, his wavy hair radiating from the center of his forehead and arranged around his domed ushnisha, wearing a finely pleated sanghati thrown over his broad shoulders, the edge forming a scooped collar around his neck, one looped end of the robe held in his left hand, standing with his left knee bent slightly forward on a rectangular plinth carved with Indo-Corinthian pilasters centering a small figure of Maitreya seated on a lotus, bearing a water flask in his right hand and flanked by two worshippers

William H. Wolff, New York

This elegantly carved image of the standing Buddha is a fine representative example of the Gandharan style of sculpture which flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from roughly the first through the fifth centuries of the Common Era. The region of Gandhara which comprised parts of modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, was strategically located at the hub of the ancient Silk Routes, and was an area of prime military and commercial significance in antiquity. The region was particularly influenced by Hellenistic culture resulting from the military campaign of Alexander the Great in the fourth Century BCE. The legacy of Hellenism that he left in his wake was integrated with local traditions creating a multi-cultural lexicon out of which was born the Gandharan School of art, a unique amalgam of East and West. Gandharan sculptures, as seen in this example, are executed in a strongly ‘Classical’ Greco-Roman style that was applied to a purely Buddhist and Indic iconography.  

The hybrid character of Gandharan art found powerful expression in Buddhism, which was the dominant religion in this area. Buddhism was founded on the teachings of Gautama Buddha (ca. 563 – 483 BCE) who was born Prince Siddhartha of the Shakya tribe which ruled over a small principality located in the Nepalese Terai. Dissatisfied with the trappings of royalty, he renounced all material belongings and even his family, embracing a life of asceticism in his search for truth. After years of penance, followed by forty nine days of deep meditation, he received enlightenment and understood the cause of suffering in the world. Endowed with this supreme spiritual awareness or bodhi, on which the word Buddha is based, he began preaching his ideology and thus he sowed the seeds of what was to become a world religion.

The essence of Buddhist teaching was following the 'Middle Path' as outlined by the Master, in the quest for salvation (nirvana) and liberation (moksha) from the ongoing cycle of existence (samsara). However, with the passage of time this monastic creed which was established to educate a select few seeking spiritual advancement was gradually transformed into a set of beliefs and doctrines that were widely adopted by the lay community. The historical Shakyamuni, or ‘Sage of the Shakyas,’ as the Buddha was popularly known, gradually came to be regarded as a Universal Sovereign and as a supramundane being who had passed through several cycles of existence before his final birth and his attainment of Buddhahood so that he could preach the true doctrine that would save mankind from suffering. 

The stories of the Buddha’s life and his teachings along with the tales of these myths and miracles laid the foundations for the development of the burgeoning Buddhist pantheon and this in turn provided the impetus for both new iconographic and artistic conventions. The new Buddhist creed drew upon the existing Indic iconographic codes to formulate its own principles with regard to representations of the Master's form. These ideals were specified in early Buddhist chronicles and they found eloquent expression in the ateliers of Gandhara where Buddhism took root and flourished under the patronage of successive Indo-Greek rulers followed by the mighty Kushan emperors. 

The underlining feature of Gandharan art is its cosmopolitan nature which combined Greek and Roman artistic modes with strains of Scythian, Iranian and other traditions bound together with a strongly Indic orientation. The agglomeration of these diverse artistic influences is aptly displayed in this sculpture of the standing Buddha, which suggests the model of the Greek logos or orator. The frontal and linear orientation of the image is characteristic of Palmyrene art, while the treatment of the symmetrical oval face and deeply carved eyes hark back to the classical Greek tradition. The conventionalized treatment of the drapery in parallel folds is akin to the Imperial Roman tradition, and yet the innate spirituality of the image is purely Indic. The Buddha’s missing right hand would have possibly been raised in abhaya mudra, the fear abiding gesture, which not only signifies security but also implies instruction and assent. Such images of the Buddha were produced in large numbers by Gandharan ateliers and they graced the chapels of the numerous Buddhist temples and monasteries that dotted the region.

The overall proportions of the figure with the subtle delineation of the broad shoulders and strong upper arms beneath the finely pleated robe may be compared to a similar figure of a standing Buddha in the Tokyo National Museum; see Isao Kurita, Gandharan Art: The World of the Buddha, Vol. II, Tokyo, 2003, p. 78, pl. 201. Compare the treatment of the rippled hair terminating in the circular domed ushnisha of even curls arranged in three tiers with a similar head of the Buddha in the British Museum; see W. Zwalf, A Catalogue of the Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum, London, 1996, Vol. I, p. 33, cat. 41. The deeply recessed narrow, slanting eyes with prominent lids and sharp edges are similar to that of another standing Buddha in the Lahore Museum; see H. Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, New York, 1957, pl. 215.