TÊTE D'UN BODHISATTVA EN SCHISTE GRISANCIENNE RÉGION DU GANDHARA, VERS IIIE SIÈCLE42 cm (16 1/2 in.) highProvenance: A GREY SCHIST HEAD OF A BODHISATTVAANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY犍陀羅 約三世紀 片岩菩薩首Provenance:With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970sThis sculpture of incredible size depicts the head of a bodhisattva, an awakened being devoted to helping others along their spiritual path. Arising in Gandhara, the popular strain of Mahayana Buddhism advocated for righteous and good deeds as the means of salvation. The bodhisattva ('Enlightened Being') represented this kind of spiritual advancement and salvation, in his ultimate act of voluntarily postponing enlightenment in order to ferry others towards their own liberation.Characterizing the hybridization of the Greco-Roman aesthetic in Gandharan art is the idealized symmetry of his face seamlessly juxtaposed with the naturalistic locks of his curly hair. The heavy-lidded eyes and pupils, which are well-preserved in high relief, convey the Gandharan artist's intent of evoking a calm yet powerful expression through the bodhisattva's watchful, piercing gaze. His ears remain wonderfully modelled with elongated lobes and beaded earrings, recalling his former princely status. His majestic face is framed by thick, voluminous ringlets that part in the middle, spilling over to the sides of the head and behind the ears. A beaded hairband keeps this arrangement in place, forming a domed topknot on the bodhisattva's head. In Gandharan art, this type of chignon is typically attributed with Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future.Beautifully carved from a polished dark stone, this bodhisattva head ranks among one of the largest examples with a topknot to be held in private hands. Its scale and sculptural quality is only rivalled by that of a bodhisattva head in the Peshawar Museum, published in Ingholt,Gandharan Art in Pakistan, 1957, p. 134, no. 286. Three smaller bodhisattva heads share a hairstyle with the present lot, including one sold at Christie's, New York, 21 March 2012, lot 723, another sold at , New York, 14 September 2015, and a third sold at , New York, 22 March 2022, lot 304. Alsopare two bodhisattva statues bearing similar features, one in the Lahore Museum (ibid, p. 132, no. 282) and another in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2006.295).