Art Ew - National Gallery of Australia

new acquisition Asian Art
Kushan dynasty
Mathura, India
Seated Buddha 1st–2nd
century red sandstone
129.5 x 101.6 x 30.5 cm
Purchased with the
generous assistance of
Roslyn Packer 2007
58 national gallery of australia
Kushan Buddha
This superb Indian sculpture has recently been added
to the permanent display of art from South Asia. The
unusually large seated Buddha is not only a spectacular
example of early Indian sculpture, but also a key image
in understanding the development of Buddhist art
throughout Asia. The sculpture has survived, largely intact,
from the second century of the Current Era.
During the first to third centuries a large part of
northern and western India and Pakistan was ruled
by the powerful Kushan dynasty that originated in
central Asia. The two great Kushan political centres – at
Gandhara and Mathura – each developed its own style of
monumental Buddhist art. Importantly, both were noted
for their anthropomorphic depictions of the Buddha who
had hitherto been represented by symbols such as his
footprints, the empty throne, the bodhi tree and the wheel
of law. These are the central focus of the Gallery’s fine
large marble Amaravati frieze from a stupa from eastern
India, dated to roughly the same period.
Mathura was a prosperous city and an ancient religious
and political capital that predated the rise of the Kushan
dynasty. It was also a centre for stone carving to serve
the temple complexes. A bold and distinctively Indian
style of figurative sculpture developed at Mathura, in
contrast to the strongly Hellenic but rather delicate
figures of neighbouring Gandhara, which are superbly
represented in the Gallery’s collection by a large grey-schist
standing bodhisattva and the recently acquired head of
a bodhisattva. In contrast, this sculpture is formed from
the striking mottled-red Sikri sandstone typical of the
Mathuran region of northern India.
Buddhism flourished in India at this time and it was
during the Kushan dynasty that the representation
of the Buddha, with his characteristic features
of a cranial protuberance and extended earlobes
dressed in the monastic robe that would become the
enduring iconography for the depiction of Buddha in
anthropomorphic form, was established. This is a fine
early example of this key development in Asian art.
Characteristic of the evolving, quintessentially Indian
style of sculpture from Mathura, the torso of the Buddha
is robust and powerful, with a plump, gently smiling
face and wide-open eyes. He is shown with several of
the thirty-two marks (lakshanas) of a great man – the
broad ‘chest of a lion’, the urna or tuft of hair between
the eyebrows (which in this case would once have been
embellished with a precious jewel), circles or wheels on
the soles of his feet, webbed fingers, folds of flesh at the
neck, elongated earlobes and a topknot of hair. The last
of these is the ushnisha, or cranial protuberance, that
signifies Buddha’s spiritual advancement. In contrast to
the Gandharan images of Buddha and bodhisattvas clad
in elaborate royal robes, Mathuran Buddhas are depicted
in almost diaphanous garments that cling to the body and
accentuate the human form.
The Buddha is seated in the meditation posture with
his legs crossed, the upturned soles of his feet carved with
two auspicious symbols in shallow relief – a discus (cakra)
and a triratna. The cakra represents the wheel of Buddhist
teachings, with the ‘turning of the wheel’ signifying the
transmission of Buddhist teachings. Each of the Buddha’s
toes is carved with a small swastika, another recurring
symbol of Buddhism. The figure holds one hand, now
missing, aloft in what would have been the fear-dispelling
gesture (abhaya mudra), while his other hand is placed
squarely on his left knee.
Installed in a niche in the new Indian Gallery, the
Seated Buddha provides visitors with new insights into
the history of Asian art. We are grateful to Ros Packer,
Chair of the Acquisitions Committee of the Gallery’s
governing Council, for her timely donation that secured
this masterpiece for the national collection.
Robyn Maxwell
Senior Curator, Asian Art