Acquired in New York, 16th July 1984.

This important sculpture is a superb representative example of the Gandharan style of art which flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from roughly the first through the fifth centuries of the Common Era. The region of Gandhara🌊 which comprised parts of modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, was strategically located at the hub of the ancient Silk Routes, and was an area of prime military and commercial significance in antiquity. The region was particularly influenced by Hellenistic culture resulting from the military campaign of Alexander the Great in the fourth Century BCE. The legacy of Hellenism that he left in his wak♓e was integrated with local traditions creating a multi-cultural lexicon out of which was born the Gandharan School, a unique amalgam of East and West. The hybrid character of Gandharan art found powerful expression in Buddhism, which was the dominant religion in this area.

The underlining feature of Gandharan art was its cosmopolitan nature which combined Greek and Roman artist💝ic modes with strains of Scythian, Iranian and other traditions bound together with a strongly Indic orientation. The agglomeration of these diverse artistic influences is aptly displayed in this sculpture of a standing bodhisattva, probably Maitreya.

The frontal and linear orientation of the image is characteristic of Palmyrene art, while the treatment of the symmetrical oval face and deeply carved eyes hark back to the classical Greek tradition. The conventionalized treatment of the drapery in parallel folds is akin🅠 to the Imperial Roman tradition, and yet the innate spirituality of the ima﷽ge is purely Indic. 

The concept of the Bodhisattva was central to the Mahayana or Greater Vehicle form of Buddhism, a school of thought that had emerged over the course of the first five hundred years of the growth and dissemination of the new religion. The Mahayana ideology advocated the importance of faith in the Buddha principle, expressed through love and devotion, as the most important element in the achievement of salvation. This universal ideal, which made the attainment of salvation more easily accessible to the lay practitioner, was widely embraced by the masses. The medium through which this possibility of salvation was advanced was the Bodhisattva, a sentient being who was ready to receive Enlightenment but voluntarily postponed his own nirvana to transfer his merit to others so that they too could cleanse the🌱ir souls and attain salvation. The Bodhisattva was thus a model of benevolence and compassion and as the Mahayana canon evolved, this altruistic entity came to be regarded as a heavenly being endowed with magical powers. Images of these deities were created in large numbers in the corpus of Buddhist art that was produced during the first centuries of the Common Era, particularly by the School of Gandhara.

The Bodhisattva image followed the Buddha as the most important subject in Gandharan sculpture. The most popular Bodhisattva was Maitreya, or The Loving One, regarded as the Buddha of the Future who would provide redemption and salvation for subsequent generations of believers. It is impossible to make a positive identification to Maitreya, as his attribute, the water flask or kalasha, which would be seen held in his left hand, is missing in this image. He is also depicted with the urna on the forehead between the eyebrows, an iconographic characteristic of the Buddha, which underscores his divine nature and his close and int🐻erchangeable relationship with the Godhead. 

As with depictions of the Buddha, images of Bodhisattvas reveal the syncretism of Indic and Hellenistic styles that defined the artistic vernacular of the School of Gandhara. The bodhisattva is seen here typically attired in the manner of an Indian noble or prince, wearing a long robe and a rich ensemble of jewelry. The realistic treatment of the muscular torso as well as the meticulous rendering of the robe in pleated foldℱs attests to the consummate skill of the craftsman trained in the Greco-Roman sculptur🍬al tradition.

The divine status of Bodhisattvas was highlightedꦇ by the suite of richly carved ornaments depicted on the images.

The sculpture is notable for the quality and precision of the scene of B🌺uddha's life depicted be✱low the feet.