Gandhara Panel Relief With Buddha Great Departure

$1,769.20

A finely modelled Gandhara fragmentary grey schist panel carved in relief, depicting Buddha Great Departure, during which Prince Siddhartha is shown leaving his palace riding the white horse Kanthaka. The Buddha is here portrayed richly adorned, riding his horse, surrounded by servants and worshippers. The composition is framed by a Corinthian column to the right and by a finely rendered border, comprising palmettes and a geometric design.  The reverse is unmodelled: the flat surface on the reverse indicates that the panel was attached to a surface behind rather than free-standing.

Date: Gandhara: Circa 1st - 2nd century A.D
Condition: Very fine condition, fragmentary. Buddha's foot repaired. Stabilised stress crack to the outer frame. Mounted on a custom-made standard.

SOLD

Stone sculptures were produced in great quantities for the Buddhist monasteries of Gandhara. These images would once have been coated with a fine stucco plaster and painted, in order to give a more colourful appearance. Stucco itself, skilfully modelled around a mud core, was also used as an alternative to stone. This panel would have been shaped from a mould: examples of such moulds have been found in excavations at Gandharan sites, which indicates such figures were manufactured at the monasteries where they were installed. However, details such as facial and anatomical features would have been carved manually.

To find out more about Gandharan art please see our relevant blog post: The Influence of Greek Art on Gandharan Statues.

Weight 5000 g
Dimensions W 26 x H 21.5 cm
Culture

Stone

Region

Gandharan Ideology

Reference: For a similar item, The Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number IM.30-1935.

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