Published: Stephen Little, Images of Buddha from the Michael Phillips Collection. Arts of Asia, Vol. 43/1, 2013, p. 104, no. 3.

The oval pendant with a finely beaded rim and a strap-form loop for suspension, the semi-transparent stone neatly incised to depict Buddha standing with his right hand raised in abhaya mudra and his left holding the hem of his robe. The royal symbol of Kanishka I, known as the tamgha, is incised to the Buddha’s left, and his name is inscribed in Greek script to his right.

Inscriptions: To the Buddha’s right, ‘BODDO’ (Buddha), written in Bactrian.

Provenance: From the private collection of Michael Phillips. Michael Phillips (born 1943) is an Academy Award-winning film producer. Born in Brooklyn, New York, his parents were Lawrence and Shirley Phillips, noted New York dealers in Asian fine arts, selling to the Met, the LACMA, the Chicago Art Institute, and the British Museum among others. Michael Phillips is a collector of Asian art himself, particularly Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan sculpture. His most important films include The Sting (winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1973), Taxi Driver (winning the Palme d’Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival), and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Condition: Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Wear, manufacturing flaws, small dents, minute nibbles, tiny nicks, encrustations.

Weight: 10.7 g
Dimensions: Height 2.5 cm

The Kushan king, Kanishka I and his successors, are extremely important in Buddhist tradition as they encouraged the teachings of Buddhism which grew immensely under their support. While Kanishka I never converted to Buddhism, he administered the 4th Buddhist Council in Kashmir as the head of the council. He encouraged both the Gandhara school of Greco-Buddhist Art and the Mathura school of art. The art of the period expresses an inescapable element of religious syncretism. Kanishka personally seems to have embraced both Buddhism and the Persian folk religion, but he favored Buddhism, which is proven by his devotion to Buddhist teachings and prayer styles depicted in various books from Kushan empire.

Bactrian is an extinct language, predominantly written in Greek script with the addition of the letter sho, ʃ. Among Indo-Iranian languages, the use of this script is unique to Bactrian and reflects the enormous Greek influence on the Kushan Empire, where Bactrian was the lingua franca.

Expert’s note: The Kushan Empire used seals and signets as they were heavily influenced by ancient Greek and Roman culture. Surviving Kushan seals made of copper and semi-precious stones such as onyx are well known. This agate example is carved with the image of the standing Buddha and his name in Greek letters as well as the monogram or royal symbol of Kanishka I, resembling a candelabra. Similar images appear on gold coins minted during his reign (see literature comparison below).

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related Kushan gold coin, depicting to one side a similar Buddha also inscribed ‘BOΔΔO’ and with the same inscription and tamgha, and to the other Kanishka I and inscribed with his name, dated circa 127-150 AD, in the British Museum, registration number IOC.289.