India, Ghandara

This serenely beautiful Ghandaran sculpture depicts the Buddha, whose teachings stand at the center of Buddhist belief. Here he is shown in the seated position for meditation. With his left hand he elegantly clasps his simple robe, while his missing right hand would have been raised, the palm facing outward and the fingers extended upward in a gesture of reassurance.

When this Buddha was created, the Indian kingdom of Gandhara, today a part of Pakistan and Afghanistan, was a busy crossroads for commercial and cultural exchange between India and the Mediterranean empire of the Romans. In early Buddhist art, Buddha was never shown in human form, his presence only suggested by the depiction of footprints or empty thrones. Roman art, focusing on the representation of the human figure, inspired Gandaharan artists of the first century A.D. to create the first images of the Buddha in human form.

Gray schist, 3rd century A.D.
Purchased with funds given by Mr. and Mrs. Preston Levis, 2000.11