100-300 AD. Gandharan. A giant schist figure of a bodhisattva, backed by a halo, who sits, gazing serenely into the distance. He is dressed in an elegant sanghati or mantle and wears elaborate jewellery, including a beaded necklace, armbands and bracelets, reflecting his spiritual wealth. His identity as a bodhisattva is established by the presence of an incised urna on his forehead, perhaps originally ornamented with a jewel. Together, these details create a majestic impression of a bodhisattva or individual who is able to reach nirvana (enlightenment) but delays doing so through compassion for suffering beings. In one hand he holds fruit, perhaps to be identified as pomegranates, which symbolise fertility in Buddhist tradition. Gandhara was an ancient region in the Peshawar basin in the north-west of the ancient Indian subcontinent. The Kushan period (c. 75-451 AD) of Gandharan art, to which this schist figure belongs, was the golden age of artistic production in the area. For further information on Gandharan art, see Jongeward, D. 2019, Buddhist Art Of Gandhara in the Ashmolean Museum. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Excellent condition; Size: L:740mm / W:320mm ; 50+kg; Provenance; Property of a Central London gallery, obtained from a private London collection (M.A); formerly acquired on the UK art market in the 1970s and 80s.