GANDHARA SCHIST STONE FIGURE OF SEATED BUDDHA

100-300 AD. Gandharan. A grey schist figure of a seated Buddha. He is depicted wearing a flowing robe and a topknot (ushnisha). He is characterised by his arched brow, heavily lidded, half-closed eyes, a bulbous nose, full lips, rounded chin and large, pendulous ears. He is flanked by two small figures. He sits atop a decorated pedestal, in the shape of a lotus, and is backed by a circular halo. His hands are arranged in his lap, upturned with one hand lying over the other. This is gesture is the Dhyana mudra or the gesture of meditation, of concentration on the Good law, and of the attainment of spiritual perfection. Gandhara was an ancient region in the Peshawar basin in the north-west of the ancient Indian subcontinent (modern north-west Pakistan and South-east Afghanistan). The Kushan period (c. 75-451 AD) of Gandharan art, to which this figure belongs, was the golden age of artistic production in the area. Provenance: From the private collection of an Oxford gentleman; previously in an old British collection, formed in the 1990s on the UK / International art markets. Size: L:310mm / W:210mm ; 6.4kg