A RARE AND IMPORTANT BLACK STONE STELE OF BUDDHA PREACHING THE FIRST SERMON AT SARNATH, PROBABLY RATNAGIRI, 9TH-12TH CENTURY
This lot is a museum deaccession and is therefore offered without reserve

Exhibited: Hardt & Sons, Arts of Pacific Asia Show, Asia Week New York, 22-25 March 2007.

Eastern India, Orissa. Exquisitely carved, seated in dhyanasana atop a double lotus base supported on a stepped pedestal centered by a diminutive image of Buddha Amitabha flanked by lions and worshipers within columned niches above two deer surrounded by ritual objects, and backed by an openworked foliate arch supported on two pillars and topped by three leafy branches, flanked by four bohisattvas seated in lalitasana below two garland-bearing vidyadharas.

The Buddha’s hands are raised to his chest and held in dharmachakra mudra, and he is dressed in a sheer sanghati with the folds piled below the ankles, the face with a serene expression with heavy-lidded downcast eyes below arched brows and pursed lips forming a gentle smile, flanked by long pendulous earlobes, the hair in tight curls over the prominent ushnisha.

The four bodhisattvas can be identified as Avalokiteshvara in the upper right by the small image of Amitabha in his crown, above Manjushri with the book of wisdom, the left side with Vajrapani holding a vajra and Maitreya with a bunch of nagakesara flowers.

Provenance: The Kienzle Family Collection, Stuttgart, Germany. Acquired between 1950 and 1985 by siblings Else (1912-2006), Reinhold (1917-2008), and Dr. Horst Kienzle (1924-2019), during their extensive travels in Asia. Subsequently inherited by Dr. Horst Kienzle and bequeathed to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, Germany. Released through museum deaccession in 2024. The Kienzle siblings were avid travelers and passionate collectors of Asian and Islamic art. During their travels, the Kienzle’s sought out and explored temples, monasteries, and markets, always trying to find the best pieces wherever they went, investing large sums of money and forging lasting relationships to ensure they could acquire them. Their fervor and success in this pursuit is not only demonstrated by their collection but further recorded in correspondences between Horst Kienzle and several noted dignitaries, businesses and individuals in Nepal and Ladakh. Their collection had gained renown by the 1970s, but the Kienzle’s stopped acquiring new pieces around 1985. Almost thirty years later, the collection was moved to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, opened by Peter Hardt in 2014. Before his death in 2019, Horst Kienzle bequeathed his entire property to Peter Hardt and legally adopted him as his son, who has been using the name Peter Kienzle-Hardt ever since.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Old wear, obvious losses, structural fissures, scattered chips, small nicks, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations. The stone with a fine, naturally grown, lustrous patina.

Dimensions: Height 80 cm

This stele is a refined example of Orissan sculpture, bearing close affinity to the Pala style. Distinctive Orissan features include the trefoil arch and the flat and paper-like lotus petals of the base. The present sculpture closely resembles a black stone stele excavated from the famed monastic site of Ratnagiri (see literature comparison). Both works feature the Buddha seated in full yogic position with hands held in dharmachakra mudra, flanked by four bodhisattvas in lalitasana, beneath a leafy arch populated by vidyadharas, and supported by a base with lions and devotees. The iconographic and stylistic parallels, particularly the modeling of the body, the openworked arch, and the tiered double-lotus base, strongly support an origin in Ratnagiri or a closely associated workshop.

Ratnagiri was a major center of Buddhist learning and tantric practice between the 7th and 12th centuries CE. While under the cultural orbit of the Pala Empire, Ratnagiri was directly patronized by regional rulers such as the Bhauma-Kara and Somavamshi dynasties, who supported Vajrayana institutions and commissioned richly carved stelae such as this one. The combination of Pala-influenced sculptural idioms, as seen in the soft modeling and elaborate composition, with distinctively local Odishan features situates this piece securely within that context.

The Buddha preaching his first sermon in a deer forest at Sarnath, north of Bodhgaya, where he had experienced enlightenment some weeks prior, is a popular subject in medieval Indian art. This moment, known as the Dharmachakra Pravartana or Turning of the Wheel of the Law, marks the foundation of the Buddhist sangha and the beginning of the Buddha’s teaching career. The presence of this iconography in Ratnagiri's sculptural corpus suggests its importance not only as a doctrinal reference but also as a visual embodiment of Ratnagiri’s own role as a center of Buddhist transmission and instruction.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related stele depicting the same subject dated to the 10th century in the Ratnagiri Archeological Museum, Odisha, and illustrated by the Western Himalaya Archive Vienna, no. 22. Compare a related Pala stele depicting the same subject, dated to the 11th century, 61.6 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 20.43. Compare a related stele of Buddha and the Eight Great Events from his life, dated to the Pala period, 9th century, 51.5 cm high, in the British Museum, registration number 1872,0701.24.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 13 September 2011, lot 268
Price: USD 86,500 or approx. EUR 106,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A black stone stele of seated Buddha, Northeastern India, Pala period, circa 10th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject and similar modeling and expression. Note the much smaller size (63.5 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Bonhams New York, 20 March 2024, lot 765
Price: USD 57,600 or approx. EUR 51,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A blackstone stele of Vamana, Orissa, circa 12th century
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling and manner of carving with similar openwork trefoil arch. Note the different subject and the larger size (105.3 cm).