
Mark Rasmussen
International Director
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Sold for US$31,250 inc. premium
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International Director
The tapered base indicates that this sculpture belongs to a type of Buddha image at Gandhara that sits on a lotus pedestal and has been traditionally linked to a particular moment in Shakyamuni's life story. It refers to a teaching Buddha gave on the subjective and illusory nature of phenomenal reality after performing the second of a series of miracles at Jetavana Grove, which was the capital city of the Kosala Kingdom, ruled by King Prasenajit, one of Buddha's royal patrons. In this second miracle, two naga kings, Nanda and Upananda, create a lotus seat for him before he multiplies his form to the audience's astonishment, exposing the fallacies of our default perceptions.
The broad stomach of this charming figure, the flat bridge of his nose, and the horizontal rows of his hair are indicative of the more stylized features of later Gandharan devotional images at Gandhara, which favour symmetry over naturalism in contrast to their more classically inspired predecessors. For further discussion, see Behrendt, The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2007, p. 68.
Provenance:
Spink and Son Ltd., London by 1970
Khan Family Collection, 1970-2002
Property of a Private Trust