A gray schist figure of Shakyamuni Buddha, Ancient Region of Gandhara, 3rd - 5th century | 犍陀羅 三至五世紀 灰片岩雕釋迦牟尼佛坐像

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.