GANDHARA

2^ND– 3^RD CENTURY

H. 46 CMS, 18 INS

A large and dynamic grey schist Bodhisattva torso, wearing a sanghati (monastic robe) with Hellenistic-style pleats and adorned with jewels, the hands joined in front of the chest and probably once held in dharmacakramudra (the gesture of ‘Turning the Wheel of Law’); mounted on a metal base.

The oval shape on the chest above the missing hands may be a bouquet of lotus flowers – see, for example no. 113 in Isao Kurita, Gandharan Art II: The World of the Buddha, Tokyo: Nigensha publishing, 2003.

Provenance: Private American collection.

Acquired from Drouot Auctions, Paris, December 2016.