A GANDHARAN GREY SCHIST TORSO OF A BODHISATTVA
2ND/3RD CENTURY AD
Carved standing in a contrapposto stance, the bare chest above sweeping robes draped around the waist and across the back, the muscular torso and upper arm adorned with necklaces, a string of amulets and a cuff bracelet, mounted on a metal stand, 49.5cm. (2)
Provenance: from the collection of the late AJ Lippitt (1928-2019), Hampshire; acquired from Simon Ray Ltd., 27th May 2004 (a copy of the invoice is available); previously a British private collection since the 1980s.
The combination of naturalistic modelling and stylised adornement seen in the piece offered here is typical of Gandharan sculpture. The athletic torso with its finely rendered musculature derives from Hellenistic art, brought to modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan with Alexander the Great's invasion in 327 BC. The arrangement of the robes, with the diagonal sweep across the hip and the slack hems over the left knee, are tropes of the depiction of bodhisattvas
in Gandharan Buddhist sculpture of the 3rd century AD. Another typical feature is the string of amulets across the chest, as also seen on the bust of the bodhisattva
Shakyamuni in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no.1987.218.10. In particular, the multiple necklaces and the arrangement of the drapery in the piece offered here are typical of depictions of the bodhisattva
Maitreya - compared with the example now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no.13.96.17. By the 3rd century AD, the rise in popularity of Mahayana worship in the Gandhara region had placed a greater emphasis on the veneration of statues of Buddhist deities and artistic production had moved away from the earlier narrative panels to focus on free standing statuary of this type.
二/三世紀 犍陀羅
片岩菩薩像
來源：英國漢普郡AJ Lippitt（1928-2019）收藏，2004年5月27日購於Simon Ray Ltd.， 1980年代為英國私人收藏。
Estim. 8,000 - 12,000 GBP
