Oliver White
Head of Department
Lot 191*,W
A grey stone seated Figure of Buddha Shakyamuni Licchavi period, Nepal, 6th/ 7th Century
8 April 2014, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£60,000 - £80,000
Looking for a similar item?
Our Islamic and Indian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
A grey stone seated Figure of Buddha Shakyamuni
Licchavi period, Nepal, 6th/ 7th Century
Licchavi period, Nepal, 6th/ 7th Century
seated in dhyanasana on a lotus pedestal with carved overlapping petals, his hands folded in his lap in dhyanamudra, wearing a diaphanous sanghati with an incised neckline, his face with serene expression and slightly downcast eyes, ears with elongated earlobes, hair arranged in tight curls and surmounted by a small domed ushnisha, backed by an unadorned fragmentary halo
75 cm. high
75 cm. high
Footnotes
Provenance:
Private UK collection;
Acquired at Sotheby's, Indian and Southeast Asian Art, New York, 24 March 2010, lot 59, from the Francisco Capelo Collection;
Sotheby's, Indian and Southeast Asian Art, New York, 17 June 1993, lot 15;
Alex Biancardi Collection, London;
Spink and Son Ltd., London
This rare sculpture is one of the earliest known seated Buddha images in stone from Nepal. Stylistic influences from the Gupta period in neighbouring India can be seen in the broad shoulders of the figure and the narrow waist visible under the barely discernible sanghati. The almost complete lack of surface decoration emphasises the ascetic nature of the Buddha. The simplicity in the line and form of the image is a hallmark of early Licchavi sculpture.
The unadorned halo with no flaming border is noteworthy and is also seen in later Buddha images from the 8th and 9th centuries. The Buddha is seated on a lotus pedestal with mutiple layers of petals. Comparisons can be drawn with the pedestal of an early 6th century sculpture of Brahma in Chapagaon in Nepal (see P. Pal, The Arts of Nepal: Part 1 - Sculpture, Leiden, 1974, pl.11) and a 6th century sculpture of Buddha in Patan (ibid, pl.13).