A GREY SCHIST SEATED BODHISATTVA SAKYAMUNI
Ancient region of Gandhara, 3rd-4th century



The seated figure with the legs in dhyanasana position, her hands resting on each other with the palms open upward in the dhyanamudra, the wide robe worn to leave the bust naked on which lie long necklaces, the long hair collected from jewels, the face - with Western physiognomic features - in a serene and haughty expression, elongated earlobes and a pair of thin mustaches on the lips, between the shoulders and the head a circular halo.

47 cm high

Provenance: Italian private collection.
Despite the presence of rich jewelery, which is a sign of attachment to worldliness and therefore a specific characteristic of bodhisattva, this sculpture actually depicts the Buddha before enlightenment, when he was still the Prince Sakyamuni (for a synthesis of this particular rather diffused iconography in the art of Gandhara, read K.A. Behrendt, The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2007, p. 53). The depictions of the bodhisattva Maitreya are distinguished from those of the bodhisattva Sakyamuni for the presence in the first of a flask.

* The present lot is offered with export license.