A well-carved gray schist figure of a standing Buddha Gandhara, 2nd / 3rd Century

standing on a pedestal carved in low relief with a checkerboard pattern inset with flowers framed by Indo-Corinthian pilasters, wearing a robe over his shoulders, its well-defined even pleats falling in symmetrical folds over his body, one end looped in his right hand, his right leg bent forward in a contrapposto-like posture, his serene face framed by a halo, with slightly smiling lips and incised lotiform eyes radiating serenity, his hair arranged in finely incised uniform undulating grooves radiating from the center of his forehead and terminating in a tall striated bun-shaped ushnisha above his head

Gandharan sculptures display a variety of artistic types, which may be attributed to chronological factors, workshop traditions as well as the hand of the individual artist. While both this and the previous lot share specific stylistic and iconographic features, the articulation of each Buddha image is very different. The missing right hand in this image would have also possibly displayed the abhaya mudra.

Compare the even forked pleats of the drapery with that of another small standing Buddha image in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh; see H. Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, New York, 1957, pl. XVII 3. The ushnisha or cranial protruberance on the Buddha's head, which signifies his superior knowledge, assumes a stylized bun-like shape in this sculpture. The unusual treatment of the hair in scalloped waves is similar to that of seated Buddha images in the British Museum and in private collections; see Isao Kurita, Gandharan Art: The World of the Buddha, Vol. II, Tokyo, 2003, p. 97, pl. 247, 249 & 250.