A GUPTA PERIOD SANDSTONE BUST OF BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI, SARNATH, NORTH INDIA, 5TH-6TH CENTURY

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A GUPTA PERIOD SANDSTONE BUST OF BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI, SARNATH, NORTH INDIA, 5TH-6TH CENTURY Expert’s Note: The sculpture is carved from Chunar sandstone, a fine-grained and dense material quarried in the region of Chunar, along the Ganges. Valued from the Mauryan period onward, Chunar sandstone was favored for high-status sculptural commissions due to its ability to take a smooth finish and hold crisp detail. Its warm buff to reddish tones and characteristic surface polish are consistent with the stone traditionally employed for elite religious sculpture in northern India, particularly in Sarnath during the Gupta era. Depicting the Buddha in a plain robe that clings to the body, without interrupting the beauty of its contours, was a new development in the sculptural workshops of Sarnath during the 5th century AD. This form spread slowly by means of portable images to peninsular Southeast Asia, as exemplified by a Dvaravati sandstone Buddha torso, dated 7th-8th century, now in the Walters Art Museum, accession number 25.149. Finely carved, the Buddha is shown with his hands raised before his chest in dharmachakra mudra, the gesture of teaching and turning the Wheel of the Law. Dressed in a diaphanous monastic robe closely following the contours of his broad chest and shoulders, its otherwise almost invisible presence is subtly indicated by several shallow parallel folds around the neckline. His serene face is sensitively modeled with downcast almond-shaped eyes beneath finely arched brows, a slender nose, and full lips forming a gentle smile, all flanked by elongated earlobes. The hair is arranged in rows of tightly coiled curls rising to the domed ushnisha. Donald R. Toppel (1929-2001) was an American collector and author with a particular interest in historic arms and military technology. He is best known as the co-author, with Paul Wahl, of The Gatling Gun, first published in the 1960s and subsequently reissued, a standard reference devoted to the history and development of Richard Gatling’s famous weapon. Dimensions: Height 41 cm The present sculpture closely follows the refined sculptural tradition that flourished at Sarnath during the Gupta period, when images of the Buddha attained an extraordinary balance of spiritual abstraction and naturalistic grace. Characteristic of this idiom are the softly rounded face with gently arched brows, downcast almond-shaped eyes, full lips forming a subtle smile, and the hair arranged in regular snail-shell curls over the ushnisha. Equally distinctive is the treatment of the monastic robe, rendered so thinly that it appears almost transparent against the body, its presence indicated primarily by the finely carved parallel folds encircling the neckline. The Buddha raises both hands before the chest in dharmachakra mudra, the gesture associated with the First Sermon at Sarnath and the turning of the Wheel of the Law. This iconography became closely associated with the great preaching Buddha images produced at Sarnath during the 5th and 6th centuries. The broad, smoothly modeled torso and restrained carving of the drapery place the present fragment firmly within this artistic vocabulary, while the expressive hands and remarkably serene face preserve much of the original devotional impact of the complete sculpture. The surviving stone behind the head and shoulders further indicates that the figure originally formed part of a larger sculptural composition, most likely incorporating a back slab or halo. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related sandstone figure of a seated teaching Buddha from Sarnath, dated to the 5th-6th century, 118 cm high, in the British Museum, London, museum no. 1880.7. Compare a closely related sandstone figure of a seated teaching Buddha, dated to the Gupta period, 5th century, 155 cm high, in the Archaeological Museum Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, accession no. 340. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 5 Price: USD 60,000 or approx. EUR 77,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related Gupta-period modeling, sandstone medium, and similarly fragmentary preservation, as well as the nearly identical size (41.9 cm). Note the different pink sandstone associated with Mathura and that the comparison does not retain the hands.

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