1. Skip to navigation
  2. Skip to content
  3. Skip to sidebar


Lot #62 - An Important Indian Pink Sandstone Head of Buddha, Mathuran District, Kushan Period, 2nd-3rd Century CE

  • Auction House:
    Mossgreen
  • Sale Name:
    The Raphy Star Collection of Important Asian Art
  • Sale Date:
    11 Dec 2016 ~ 6.30pm
  • Lot #:
    62
  • Lot Description:
    An Important Indian Pink Sandstone Head of Buddha, Mathuran District, Kushan Period, 2nd-3rd Century CE
    the pink sandstone, larger than life size sculpture, the face wearing a benign smile, the eyebrows arched, the hair tightly plaited
    32 cm high
  • Provenance:
    A.&J.Speelman, London, 1999
  • References:
    A.&J.Speelman, Oriental Sculpture and Works of Art, 1999, cat. no. 25, pp. 54-55. See: Stanislaw Czuma, Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India, Cleveland Museum of Art 1985, fig. 4, p. 54 for a similar example; also see Jackie Menzies, Buddha: Radiant Awakening, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2002, pl. 26, pp. 42-43 for a torso with a similar head; also Jacques Gies, Spiritual Journey: Sacred Art from Musée Guimet, Paris, 2004, pl. 2 & pl. 6 for similar examples
  • Notes:
    This important, grand and very rare sandstone head is a remarkable example of the earliest representations of Buddha. Buddhist works carved in the Mathuran region favoured dramatically oversized proportions, drawn from early Kushan secular sculptures of kings and princes. It was the Mathuran style of representing Buddha that had the most pronounced impact on the development of Buddhist art in India and Southeast Asia, due largely to the combination of the increased humanisation of the depiction, whilst still retaining the impressively revered quality of the figure. The roundness of the Buddha’s face, which has been detailed with full sensuous lips, a bow-shaped smile, deep-set, heavy-lidded eyes, arched brows is balanced by a central, raised urna and flanked by the princely elongated earlobes. The finely sculpted features are a traditional combination of Hellenic style, as represented by the carving of the tight curls of hair, while conveying a more idealised Indian vitality, as depicted in the serene, suggestive smile. Mathura was a major centre of art production, in the traditions of the indigenous Indian people who made much use of the rare local mottled-pink sandstone. It is a remarkable achievement to be able to elicit the soft contours of the Buddha’s face from such a hard stone. Compare to the famous triad group in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth (see Figure 1), illustrated Potts, ed., Kimbell Art Museum. Handbook of the Collection, Fort Worth, 2003, pp.164-5, and again Sherman Lee, A History of Far Eastern Art, 5th edn., New York, 1994, fig.135, pp.103. Compare another similar head of Buddha, particularly close in the sense of spiritual openness and power in its expression, from the Nasli M. Heeramaneck collection, illustrated Alice N. Heeramaneck, Masterpieces of Indian Sculpture, Verona, 1979, no.22 (see Figure 2) together with another fragment of a Buddhist triad similar to the Kimbell stele, no.19. Also Christie’s, NY, 19/3/14, lot 1069 for a similar, though more damaged (loss of an ear) and less well-mottled example. Sally Robin
  • Estimate:
    A$120,000 - 150,000
  • Realised Price:
    *****

    Can't see the realised price? Upgrade your subscription now!

  • Category:
    Oriental

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.



© 2010-2024 Find Lots Online Pty Ltd