A large gray schist figure of the goddess Hariti, Ancient Region of Gandhara, 2nd - 3rd century

A large gray schist figure of the goddess Hariti
Ancient Region of Gandhara, 2nd - 3rd century

Height 67¼ in., 170.8 cm

Condition Report:
As visible in the photos, there is are losses to the carving, including the left side of the headband and the lotus finial above, the nose, the faces of the children, and the upper arm on the left side. The feet and the children at her feet almost entirely abraded. A chip from the left breast. The surface with a dusty patina. The halo almost entirely missing from behind her head. No restoration.

Catalogue Note:
The Mother-Goddess Hariti, protectress of children, is depicted most frequently in Gandharan art accompanied by her husband Panchika (as discussed in H. Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, New York, 1957, pl. no.342), a form of images of divine power ensuring fertility and riches. The smaller of two large schist images of Hariti (1.22m, 91 cm), respectively in the Lahore and Peshawar Museums (Ingholt, 340 & 341), reflects similar late Roman influence in the facial expression and treatment of the drapery. Here she is depicting wearing a long kaftan, trousers, and a heavily pleated shawl, her jewelry comprising anklets, rows pf bracelets, earrings and necklaces including a floral torque, also wearing a circular crown carved with lotus petals in relief above a foliate fillet, holding four plump nude children.

Although a devourer of children in a former incarnation, the omnivorous Hariti ('the one who steals') was reborn a yakshi and subsequently gave birth to five hundred children. The goddess was reformed of her child-eating by the Buddha, who is said to have weaned her on pomegranates due to their color resembling that of human flesh. On her conversion he ensured that every Buddhist monastery would provide food for her offspring, thus creating the cult of the image of Hariti surrounded by children.

Unlike other figures of Hariti which are dressed in the heavily draped classical manner, this image is distinctive in that the goddess is wearing the kaftan, trousers, and shawl often called Scythian or Iranian elsewhere in Gandhara imagery, viz. Ingholt, nos. 361, 419. A relief in the Art Institute of Chicago (Czuma, p.191, no.103) depicting the Birth of the Buddha, includes a figure of Mahaprajapati, sister of Queen Maya, in similar dress.

The rigid frontal posture, idealized features and schematic treatment of the drapery and costume in the present lot recalls the sculpture of Palmyra and Hatra which influenced the Gandharan style. It is known that Hellenistic goddesses such as Fortuna and Tyche served as prototypes for early images of Hariti and the present image with its tall crowned headdress seems to have been modeled closely after Tyche, who was also revered as a protector deity. Here, the characteristic crenellated motif seen on Tyche's small mural crown has been replaced by the Buddhist lotus petal ornament. Interestingly, the figures broad collar necklace with floral motifs is identical to those seen on Gandharan bodhisattva images.

Images of Harati are common in Gandharan art, especially because of the deity's association with children and fertility. See Kurita, 2003 vol. II, pp. 167-170 for several freestanding images of the goddess, attired in a variety of Indic and non-Indic dress. Compare the linear and hieratic treatment of the form and the face with its deeply inset eyes, the plainer treatment of the drapery and the ornamental details with a very similar sculpture in a European private collection, see ibid, no. 493.

Provenance:
Sotheby's London, 17th October 1996, lot 111.