† AN ICONIC RED SANDSTONE TORSO OF THE BUDDHA, GUPTA PERIOD, MATHURA, 3RD-5TH CENTURY
Lot 206 - FAS1025

Expert authentication: Dr. Chang Qing has authenticated this lot, identifying its iconographic and stylistic characteristics as typical of Silla Kingdom images found in present-day Korea. A notarized copy of Dr. Chang’s expertise dated 19 January 2021, in the State of New York, accompanies this lot.
Dr. Chang holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Kansas and has held prestigious positions, including post-doctoral fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and senior research fellow at the Freer and Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian Institute. He has conducted extensive research in China, participating in archaeological excavations at various historical sites. Dr. Chang is the author of several influential works, including Compassionate Beings in Metal and Stone: Chinese Buddhist Sculptures from The Freer Gallery of Art (2016) and Light of the Buddha in the Desert: Essays on Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang from 5th-14th Centuries (2012). He is currently a professor at Arts College, Sichuan University.

Expert’s note: This commanding image of the Buddha was created by artists at Mathura, an important center of arts in the kingdom of the Gupta monarchs (c. 320-485). The sculptors selectively combined elements from earlier traditions to create the quintessential Gupta Buddha image. From the Greco-Roman style of Gandhara, Gupta sculptors borrowed the monastic robe that covers both shoulders, transforming its folds into a network of strings; from their own earlier Mathura tradition they retained the sensuous, full-bodied form of the Buddha. The sensitive handling of the stone reveals the ridge created at the waist by the draped sarong-like undergarment whose lower edge peeks out at the ankles. The Gupta Buddha was a source of inspiration for the entire Buddhist world, including land-bound Nepal and Tibet, the island of Sri Lanka, and the Southeast Asian countries of Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Java. Each area took the Gupta ideal and developed it along its own lines. Even Chinese pilgrims to India carried portable bronze Guptas back to their homeland.

Central India. Magnificently carved standing in a slightly flexed pose with right leg forward, his left hand lowered and clutching a piece of his robe where it cascades in an undulating line, the richly pleated garment enveloping his sensuously modeled body with the meticulously detailed folds following its contours.

Provenance: A private collection, acquired in the 1970s. Collection of Nik Douglas, acquired circa 1989, and thence by descent to his wife Christi Douglas, New York, United States. A copy of a provenance statement signed by Christi Douglas on 28 February 2021 and confirming the above, accompanies this lot. Nicholas ‘Nik’ Douglas (1944-2012) was a renowned author, curator, and Asian art expert. Between 1966 and 1974, he traveled through South and Southeast Asia visiting remote areas of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Sikkim, Thailand, and Indonesia, building up his knowledge of the customs, beliefs, and spiritual practices of Hindus and Buddhists. He researched Oriental medicine, alchemy, art, sculpture, and mysticism, studying with Hindu yogis, Buddhist lamas, and doctors. The Buckingham Collection was built by Nik Douglas, his mother, and his grandfather, as well as further collectors in the family. Part of the collection was exhibited in 2010 by The Tibet House, New York, The Buddha Image: Out of Uddiyana.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, obvious losses, small chips, scattered nicks, scratches, signs of weathering and erosion, and encrustations.

Weight: 113 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 105 cm (excl. stand), 122.5 cm (incl. stand)

Mounted on an associated stand. (2)

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related red sandstone torso of a standing Buddha, Gupta period, Mathura, dated 320-485, 134.6 cm high, in the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, accession number F1994.17. Compare a closely related mottled red sandstone torso of Buddha, Gupta period, Mathura, 5th century, 114.9 cm high, in the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, object number 45-15. Compare a closely related red sandstone figure of standing Buddha, Gupta period, Mathura, 5th century, in the National Museum of India, New Delhi.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams New York, 14 March 2016, lot 65
Price: USD 81,250 or approx. EUR 94,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large sandstone torso of Buddha, Mathura, Gupta period, 5th-6th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and manner of carving of the figure draped with similar monastic robes. Note the similar size (109.0 cm).