Footnotes

A SILVER INLAID COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF BUDDHA
SWAT VALLEY, 7TH CENTURY

斯瓦特 七世紀 銅錯銀佛陀像

Published:
Arman Neven, Sculpture des Indes, Brussels, 1978, p. 72, no. 30.
Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p.70, pl. 3E.
Jan van Alphen, Cast for Eternity, Antwerp, 2003, pp. 70-1, no. 14.

Exhibited:
Sculpture des Indes, Société Générale de Banque, Brussels, 8 December 1978 - 31 January 1979.
Cast for Eternity, Antwerp Ethnographic Museum, Belgium, 12 April 2005 - 26 June 2005.

Provenance:
With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970s

The bronze-caster has skillfully conveyed the Buddha's enlightened consciousness with a compassionate expression illumined by silver-inlaid eyes and urna. The iconography of the Seated Buddha raising his right hand in the gesture of reassurance (abhaya mudra) is rather unusual for sculptures of the Swat Valley, most of which depict him extending his right hand in the gesture of charity (varada mudra) instead. The iconography derives from earlier Gandharan sculptures (see for example, a 6th-century Gandharan standing Buddha at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1981.188a,b), suggesting that the present work is likely among earlier sculptures created in the Swat Valley around the 7th century.

In the 5th century, the Swat Valley, located in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains in modern-day Pakistan, served as a refuge for Buddhist practitioners, as Huns raided the monasteries scattered throughout ancient Gandhara's lush plains. Buddhist bronzes from the Swat Valley therefore constitute an important artistic and religious link between the former civilization of Gandhara, the Gupta period of Northern India, and the rising states of Kashmir, Gilgit, and Western Tibet. Here, the pronounced parallel folds of Buddha's robe are clearly inspired by the Gandharan style, which was in turn influenced by Hellenistic traditions. On the other hand, his pronounced eyes, fleshy cheeks, incised long eyebrows, and small hair curls are all congruent with the Gupta idiom. While, the thick, V-shaped pleats around his neck are commonly seen in later Kashmiri bronzes.

Several stylistic features of the present sculpture are consistent with other early Swat Valley images attributed to the 7th century. The treatment of Buddha's robe, using parallel folds to emphasize volume while revealing supple musculature around the chest, is closely related to two other 7th-century bronzes – one formerly in the Lahiri Collection (Christie's, New York, 14 March 2016, lot 44), the other in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Pal, Bronzes of Kashmir, 1975, pp. 88-9, no. 20). The three bronzes also share the same facial and lotus petal types. The distinctive, tightly-waisted lotus base, with artichoke-shaped petals covering the lower half and a plain, conical upper half, compares closely to another Swat Buddha at the Harvard Art Museums (1989.57). Also see other Swat bronzes made during the 7th-8th centuries published in von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. 1, 2001, pp. 32-3, nos. 2A-E.