129. * W STATUE D'UN BODHISATTVA EN SCHISTE GRIS ANCIENNE RÉGION DU GANDHARA, VERS IIIE SIÈCLE 99 cm (39 in.) high A GREY SCHIST FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY 犍陀羅 約三世紀 片岩菩薩像 This handsomely carved statue depicts the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, who is identifiable by the seated image of the Buddha Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara's spiritual heir, in his turban headdress. As the pure and perfect Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion in Mahayana Buddhism, Avalokiteshvara willingly prolongs his own enlightenment to guide all sentient beings to be reborn in Amitabha's Western Paradise of Sukhavati. The early worship of Amitabha and by extension, Avalokiteshvara, is attested in the Sukhavantivyuhasutra, a mid-2nd century Buddhist text that was translated and introduced into China by monks from the Kushan empire. This text, in addition to the following sculpture, was crucial for the dissemination of early Buddhist art into East Asia. The naturalistic folds of the robe, the muscular definition of the upper torso, and the nuanced bend of the right knee in contrapposto reflect Gandhara's ancient, urbanized culture, which merged Indic fashions with Iranian and Greco-Roman modeling. This confluence of artistic traditions was the result of Gandhara's geographic position along the maritime and overland silk routes around the 1st century BCE. Due to this influx of wealth and commerce, Gandhara's urban centers served as the crossroads connecting China, Central Asia, the Indian peninsula, and the Mediterranean, initiating the exchange of visual idioms over these transverses. For instance, the fan-shaped headdress surmounting Avalokiteshvara's head is a stylistic feature which later gave rise to the type of images originating from the Swat Valley. For an example of this detail from Swat, see a 7th century image sold at Bonhams, 7 October 2019, lot 801. Also compare with another Avalokiteshvara image from Gandhara, published in Lyons and Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, 1957, p. 142, no. 326, and a bodhisattva with a similarly elongated, muscular torso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1991.75). Provenance: Private European Collection