A gilt-decorated schist figure of seated Shakyamuni Buddha, Ancient Region of Gandhara, circa 2nd / 3rd century

Isao Kurita, Tokyo, acquired in 2010.

This image of the Buddha clad and seated in robes of draping folds epitomises the classical style of sculpture emanating from the ancient region of Gandhara. 

It is rare to find a schist figure of this period preserved in such good condition, with original gilding intact. It was created around the second century as one of a large number created to meet the demand for large Buddhist icons placed in niches on temples and in monasteries to secure religious merit for donors, in accordance with the growing popularity of Mahayana Buddhist beliefs. Buddhism flourished in the Gandharan region from the 1st century BCE, reaching its apogee under the mighty Kushan emperors. The Kushan period, during which the present work was created, is considered a golden age of Gandharan Buddhist art, during which the construction of stupas or reliquary mounds, temples, monasteries and sculpture dominated the cultural sphere.

Spanning the distance across the Khyber from modern day Afghanistan in the east and Pakistan in the north, the Gandharan cultural region served as the central passageway between Persia, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The ancient kingdom of Gandhara was a center of significant military and commercial importance, which absorbed and reflected the dynamic multicultural, artistic and religious influence of its numerous conquerors and inhabitants. Situated between the Indus and Kabul Rivers in the fertile Peshawar valley, this region was also for many centuries a main corridor of invasion from within and without. By the first and second centuries BCE, after the capture of the Gandharan region by the Greek and Persian armies of Alexander and the decline of the Mauryan Empire of Chandragupta and his heirs, an era of Graeco-Bactrian rule began, thus giving rise to this unique synthesis of Hellenistic and Indic artistic traditions.