An extremely rare grey schist head of the ascetic Siddhartha, Ancient region of Gandhara, 2nd / 3rd century | 犍陀羅 二 / 三世紀 灰片岩雕釋迦牟尼苦行首像

German Private Collection, formed during the 1950s.

Galerie Jacques Barrère, Paris, 15th December 2003. 

French Private collection, Bergerac, and thence by family descent.

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德國私人收藏，得於1950年代

Jacques Barrère藝廊，巴黎，2003年12月15日

法國私人收藏，貝傑拉克，此後家族傳承

The fragmentary head remains from a rare and important sculpture of the emaciated Siddhartha portraying the physical signs of prolonged fasting. Skin is drawn tight over the fleshless skull revealing a network of veins on the forehead surrounding the now empty gem-set urna. Haunting eyes gaze out from deep in their sockets. Cheeks are hollowed and mouth downturned, with lips resolutely pressed together. Waves of still luxuriant hair cover the head and the rounded ushnisha.

Such sculptures are generally thought to depict Siddhartha in his ultimately unsuccessful attempt to achieve enlightenment through rigorous asceticism. It is said that he fasted in meditation for six years having renounced his princely heritage. It has also been suggested that the emaciated figure may represent Shakyamuni Buddha after his enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, where he remained in meditation and fasted for forty-nine days, see Kurt Behrendt, The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2007, p. 58.

It appears that the depiction of this episode in the life of the Buddha — experiencing the extremes of asceticism —first evolved in the Gandhara region, as seen in the small number of circa second to fifth century Gandhara schist sculptures and relief panels that depict the scene. The imagery spread to Central Asia, seen in circa fifth century wall paintings at Kizil, see Marylin Rhie, Early Buddhist Art of China and Central Asia, Leiden, 2010, p. 164; and to Kashmir, seen in a rare eighth century ivory panel in The Cleveland Museum of Art that depicts three consecutive episodes in the life of the Buddha: Siddhartha fasting and emaciated; his acceptance of the futility of the ascetic path in the quest for enlightenment; and finally ending his fast with milk rice offered by Sujata, see Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Journey, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2003, cat. no. 69. There is little evidence that the veneration of the fasting Siddhartha was popular among Buddhists in the rest of the Indian subcontinent.

Compare the emaciated schist head found at a village in Rawalpindi District and now in the British Museum, in W. Zwalf, A Catalogue of the Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum, vol. I, London, 1996, pl. VIII (fig. 1); and a small head in the Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin, in S. Czuma, Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India, Cleveland, 1985, cat. no. 111.

此佛首描繪悉達多太子於長期斷食修行中的憔悴形貌，為早期佛傳造像中極為罕見之題材。皮膚緊貼於瘦削頭骨，前額可見細密靜脈網絡，環繞中央原嵌寶石之白毫，今僅留空槽。雙目深陷眼眶，凝視幽邃；雙頰凹陷，口角下垂，雙唇緊閉，神情沈毅堅定。頭部覆以波浪狀長髮，髮際整齊，髮頂隆起圓潤之肉髻，象徵佛陀尊格，表現力強烈，極為罕見。

此類造像普遍被認為呈現悉達多太子於出家後投身極端苦行、試圖以苦修達致證悟之階段；惟最終體悟苦行非道，而轉向中道實踐。據傳，悉達多隱居森林六年，實行斷食與禪修，並捨棄王族身份與世俗榮耀。此外，亦有觀點指出，此類憔悴形象或為釋迦牟尼佛於菩提伽耶證道後之表現，當時佛陀持續入定與斷食四十九日，參見 Kurt Behrendt，《The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art》，紐約，2007年，頁58。

佛陀此段苦行經歷之視覺表現，學界普遍認為起源於犍陀羅地區，相關圖像可見於公元二至五世紀之片岩雕刻與浮雕。此題材隨佛教東傳亦流布至中亞，如克孜爾千佛洞約五世紀壁畫即為一例，參見 Marylin Rhie，《Early Buddhist Art of China and Central Asia》，萊頓，2010年，頁164。至於克什米爾，克里夫蘭藝術博物館收藏一件八世紀象牙浮雕板，其上依序呈現佛陀三段重要生命歷程：悉達多斷食苦修；悟知苦行非證道所由；最終接受村女蘇賈塔所奉乳糜以終止苦行，參見 Pratapaditya Pal，《Himalayas: An Aesthetic Journey》，芝加哥，2003年，編號69。然而在印度次大陸其他地區，目前幾無證據顯示「苦行佛」形象曾廣泛流行或受到佛教徒持續供奉。

可資比較者，包括一尊出土自拉瓦爾品第地區之片岩佛首，現藏大英博物館，著錄於 W. Zwalf，《A Catalogue of the Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum》，卷一，圖版 VIII；另見柏林印度藝術博物館藏一件小型佛首，著錄於 S. Czuma，《Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India》，克里夫蘭，1985年，編號111。