Grey slate. Gandhara, 3rd to 4th cent.

Very powerfully defined, frontal depiction of standing Maitreya, who counts in Gandhara among the earliest Buddha depictions and in Bactrian called Metrago Boudo. The sculpture offers the bodhisattva in a form known in the earlier time – wearing a gently pleated robe, one bare shoulder and hung with jewelry necklaces. The facial features youthful-masculine, thick, wavy, flowing back hair and with hair bun quite similar to ushnisha of Buddha. Altogether typical for the elite status of a Mahapurusha. One lower arm is missing, the other fragmentary; characteristic for Maitreya vessel with Amrta elixir is in its form partly recognizable. Maitreya, considered to be "Buddha of the Future", stands barefoot on a rectangular base with lotus blossom relief on the front. The circular halo is only preserved as fragment.

HEIGHT 106 CM

Expertise: Wolmar Zacken

From the collection of a French aristocratic family, going back to Évariste Regis HucÉvariste Regis Huc (1813 – 1860), one of the most renowned explorers of Asia and missionary of the mid-19th cent, became world-famous for crossing Mongolia, Tibet and China. He was probably also the first European to reach Lhasa in 1846. The collection was systematically recorded and documented in 1967, although no data of acquisition time of the respective objects are included. 法國貴族家舊藏。原來被有名冒險家，傳教士Évariste Regis Huc (1813 – 1860) 帶回歐洲。這位收藏家於19世紀中期在蒙古，西藏以及中國大量旅遊，很有可能他作為第一個歐洲人於1846年進去拉薩市。他的亞洲美術品收藏於1967年被仔細紀錄及敘述，雖然他原來拿到大部分單獨藏品的材料很難找到。

A good, iconographically same example of quite similar size (102 cm) is in the Museum of Taxila, PakistanLots 186 - 195 offer rare sculptures and reliefs from Gandhara, formerly West India, Pakistan today. Gandhara was a province in the old Greco-Bactrian Empire. The Hellenistic influence arrived there as a result of the campaigns of Alexander the Great. In Gandhara originated the first Buddha depictions in history. They are singular is the integration of Indian and Greco-Roman style – interestingly, the iconography of the depictions of that time have remained unchanged up to present day. Buddha depictions of Gandhara count among the great rarities in the art market.