NORTHWEST PAKISTAN .

PROBABLY FROM THE SAHRI BAHLOL -TAKHT I BAHI AREA .

GANDHARA.

2ND - 3RD CENTURY AD.

H. 66 CMS, 26 INS.

An exquisitely sculpted grey schist figure of Buddha standing with his legs slightly apart upon a pedestal decorated with lotuses; his right hand raised in abhayamudra and the left holding a fold of his robe, the hair emanating in symmetrical waves from a point above the forehead, the face tranquil with a beatific smile, a circular nimbus behind.

Large, frontal Buddha images like this are modelled upon Greco-Roman ideals and were placed in shrines, niches and courtyards of monasteries (viharas). For examples of similar standing Buddhas with lotus-decorated pedestals, please see nos. 201, 219, 221 and 222 in Isao Kurita, Gandharan Art II: The Buddha’s Life Story, Tokyo: Nigensha publishing, 2003.