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6. Teaching Buddha Gandhara, Pakistan 2nd-4th Century AD Black Schist Height: 39cm (15.5”) Height including mount: 50cm (19.5”) |
A black schist Figure of the Teaching Buddha. Gandhara, 2nd - 3rd Century. Well-carved seated in dhyanasana on an inverted lotus base supported by three elephants. The bare soles of his feet upturned, his hands raised before his chest in the gesture of elucidation, wearing a sanghati draped across his left shoulder and gathered in elegant folds around his ankles, his face in a meditative expression with downcast eyes beneath arched brows, backed by a round nimbus. Over a plinth carved with putti holding a sinuous garland beneath a dentil frieze, smoothly finished overall. Published: Smile of the Buddha – exhibition catalogue 2007 The depiction refers to the miracle of Sravasti where Buddha performed eight miracles to demonstrate his superiority over the Kasyapas. During the first miracle, Buddha levitated in the air, emitting flames from his shoulders and water from his feet. Then, during the second and decisive miracle, the two Naga kings, Nanda and Upananda, created a lotus on whose petals the Buddha seated himself and by supernatural power created multiple images of himself that issued all around him. The present scene refers to this second miracle, focusing on the essential elements. Buddha is seated on an inverted lotus throne, in turn supported by two elephants centered by a lion or a further elephant whose face is missing. The eminent early scholar Alfred Boucher first pointed out that the Sanskrit word naga denotes both serpent and elephant, allowing for the sculptor to draw on a linguistic pun and the interpretation of the two elephants as elephant-nagas evoking the serpent kings Nanda and Upananda, see H. Ingolt, Gandharan Sculpture in Pakistan, 1957, The elephants trunks appear serpentine in their upturned curved form supporting lotus buds; Ingolt illustrates a related example in an architectural setting with three elephants supporting the throne above water, clearly establishing the connection to the Sravasti miracle, see Gandharan Art in Pakistan, fig. XVI, 4; and further examples where the base is supported by three elephants surrounded by water (figs. 257 and 261). A frieze with the teaching Buddha on a throne supported by two elephants centered by a lion is in the Matsuoka Collection, see Matsuoka Museum of Art, Ancient Sculptures from the Matsuoka Collection, 1994, pl.13. Also similar example of seated Buddha seated on upturned lotus supported by three elephants, Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, pl.400 Gandharan Art Volume 1, Isao Kurita. Nigensha press 2003. Detail: close-up Detail: alternate view |