G764 A POLISHED BLACK STONE RELIEF WITH FIVE BUDDHAS

N.E. INDIA, BIHAR

PALA PERIOD, 10^TH CENTURY

HEIGHT 22 CMS, 8 ½ INS; WIDTH 41 CMS, 16 INS

An exceptional polished black stone frieze, once part of a door frame or the base of a stupa, depicting five seated buddhas within trefoil arches supported by rounded and tapered columns, the first, third and fourth in dharmachakramudra (the turning of the wheel of law), the second in varadamudra (the granting of wishes) and the fifth in abhayamudra (the gesture of dispelling fear).

For a closely related Pala stone frieze with seated Buddhas in the Norton Simon Museum, see Pratapaditya Pal, Art from the Indian Subcontinent, New Haven and London, 2003, Vol. I, cat. 137, p. 177.

See, also, the following link:

Frieze with Seven Buddhas » Norton Simon Museum

Provenance: Private Netherlands collection.