A gray schist figure of Shakyamuni Buddha, Ancient region of Gandhara, 3rd / 4th century

Collection of Richard E. Gump (1906-89).

Sotheby's New York, 6th October 1990, lot 258.

The superbly carved schist figure depicts the historical Buddha seated in a contemplative posture (dhyana) with legs crossed in the lotus position and hands folded in the lap. The sculpture displays specific signs (lakshana) of the enlightened being, including the cranial protuberance (ushnisha), symbolising supreme wisdom, and the auspicious mark on the forehead (urna). The hair is arranged in vertical bands with transverse curls, in a variant of the wave or snail-shell curl styles associated with the Gandhara Buddha. Compare the treatment of the hair of a Buddha head in the British Museum, illustrated in W. Zwalf, ed., Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum, London, 1996, vol. I, col. pl. xv. The Buddha wears a simple, voluminous monk’s robe made from a single length of cloth draped around the shoulders and falling in deep folds across the body, with the end of the cloth thrown back over the left shoulder. The garment is modelled in the characteristic Graeco-Roman sculptural style of the Gandhara region, a legacy of Alexander the Great’s invasion of Northern India (329-326 BCE) and the region’s continued contact with the classical world.

Compare the pedestal depicting standing donors and three Buddhas seated in meditation with hands in dhyana mudra concealed beneath their robes, with a seated schist Buddha in the British Museum, illustrated in W. Zwalf, A Catalogue of the Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum, London, 1996, pl. 112.

The sculpture was previously in the collection of Richard B. Gump (1906-89), the composer, artist and president of the department store Gumps in San Francisco.