Mark Rasmussen
International Director
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Lot 808
A SCHIST PANEL WITH THE PREPARATION
OF THE SEAT OF ENLIGHTENMENT ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY
OF THE SEAT OF ENLIGHTENMENT
23 July 2020, 10:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$25,075 inc. premium
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Dora Tan
Head of Sale, Specialist
A SCHIST PANEL WITH THE PREPARATION
OF THE SEAT OF ENLIGHTENMENT
OF THE SEAT OF ENLIGHTENMENT
ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY
6 1/8 x 19 3/4 in. (15.6 x 50.3 cm)
6 1/8 x 19 3/4 in. (15.6 x 50.3 cm)
Footnotes
犍陀羅 二/三世紀 片岩就近菩提座圖石碑
Of superior carving in high relief, this panel features two scenes which combine to represent The Preparation of the Seat of Enlightenment from the life of Buddha. Read right to left, the first centers on Siddhartha amidst a deferential entourage receiving kusha grass from an ascetic which he would then sit on underneath the Bodhi tree. The second depicts Buddha receiving the dispensation from the goddess of the Bodhi tree to meditate under it. Meanwhile, behind the tree spirit, Mara, with a grotesque torso, leans against the first of his daughters he would employ to try to tempt Siddhartha away from spiritual attainment. Further back, Mara's second daughter cranes her neck to glimpse Siddhartha. Her pose, as if inspired by an observed model, epitomizes the high quality of this classical Gandharan frieze.
The panel's carved plinth betrays its original purpose as one side of the square base of a Gandharan model stupa. This is demonstrated by one such complete stupa preserved in The Indian Museum, Kolkata (Luczanits (ed.), Gandhara, Mainz, 2008, p.174, abb.4). Other dispersed panels of the same quality and with integral plinths are published in Kurita, Gandharan Art, Vol.1, Tokyo, 1988, pp.165 & 182, nos.319 & 362. The present frieze also compares favorably to another of the same composition in the Peshawar Museum (Luczanits (ed.), op. cit., p.224, no.161).
Provenance
The Estate of Benjamin M. Rice II, New York, by 1998