Provenance:
Sotheby's, New York, March 22, 1989, no. 6
European Private Collection
Rossi & Rossi, Ltd., London
Scottish Private Collection, acquired in 2013
The Buddha sits in an attitude of preaching on a lotus throne with overlapping petals. He is ensconced in a niche with Indo-Corinthian columns supporting a double-domed parasol decorated with rosettes and a pair of billowing streamers secured by a knopped finial. Originally part of the decoration of a Buddhist stupa, the carving was most likely made as a false-gable (caitya) panel. Such reliefs appeared on the exterior of Gandharan stupas, incorporating images of the Buddha, attendants, donors, and narrative scenes into the overall design of the monument.
The sculpture depicts the Buddha giving the famous Sermon in the Deer Park at Sarnath, where he initiated his teachings, which are recorded on the Pali Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. The Buddha is seated in the padmasana posture (or "lotus position"), with his hands in the dharmachakra pravartana, literally the mudra of "turning the wheel of dharma," by means of teaching. He is delivering the first sermon with four other fragmentary, diminutive emanations of the Buddha on either side of him.
Within the broader context of Gandharan art, this relief exemplifies the region’s distinctive approach to Buddhist narrative and devotional imagery. Gandhara, situated at the crossroads of South Asia, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean world, developed a highly syncretic visual language during the early centuries of the 1st millennium. Artists in the region combined Buddhist subjects with architectural and figural forms derived from the Hellenistic tradition.
