Physical details: bronze,
215mm tall, the halo is separate, attached to bosses on the back, and is
loose.
Provenance: acquired from
a colleague in Swat, Northwest Frontier, Pakistan. He only buys locally.
He told me it is from a site near Chakdara.
Condition: the patina is
complete, smooth, hard. There is no damage & no repair.
I don't think it is hype to call this choice, choice, choice.
Price: oh, how about $4000.00.
Now for some discussion.
First for the attribution.
When I first saw it my "heart" said "Kushan," though it is not the least
bit "Gandharan" in style. The term "Gandhara" is traditionally applied
to the art of Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan during the Kushan period,
c. 100-500 AD. The center of gravity of Kushania at its height was
in the Northwest Frontier province of Pakistan. After c. 450 AD the
political entity was pushed eastward into Kashmir and northern India.
The pushing was done by the "Hephthalites," who are traditionally considered
to be barbarians with "primitive" artistic esthetics and methods.
The Hephthalites finally extinguished the Kushans. In India proper,
from the 4-5th centuries, the government was the Hindu Gupta monarchy.
The western border of the Gupta realm was the Indus river. From the
6th century northern India was ruled by several smaller Hindu states, while
in Pakistan the Hephthalites were succeeded by Turks before the whole region
was invaded by Arabs in the 8th century.
The "Gandhara" art of the
Kushans is generally typified by a highly realistic rendition of human
forms in sculpture, clearly adopted from the Greeks who had preceded them
(with a Scythian interlude). When examining art classified as Gandharan
one looks for this naturalistic and humanistic representational style in
objects coming from the right place. A lot of this stuff is overtly
Buddhist, but it is important to remember that the Kushan government under
the rule of which these things were produced was tolerant rather than Buddhist.
You look at their coins and what do you see? Gods and goddesses of
the Hindu and Greek pantheons, rarely joined by Buddhist images.
So you can, in theory, have Gandharan art that is Hindu rather than Buddhist,
and it is reasonably safe to say that Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan
were as heavily populated by Hindus as by Buddhists, if not more so.
Not all art of the appropriate
place and period bears the ineffable "Greek touch" that typifies high "Gandharan"
art. A much more stylized rendition is also seen, and a more primitive
rendition became the norm later in the dynasty. Kushan coins of the
highest style lack the "Greek touch," and by the 4th century have declined,
stylistically speaking, to stick figures and cartoons. The Bamian
Buddhas blown up by the Taliban are late Kushan products, and showed not
a trace of Hellenistic influence. A few pieces found in my web search
start to have that slanty eyed, smooth haired, thick lipped style that
typifies the art of the Guptas. How to distinguish this stuff from
high Gupta art? How to decide that a given piece was produced in
the 3rd century under the Kushans, or the 5th under the Hephthalites, or
the 8th century under the Hindushahi Turks, or further east under the Guptas
or their successors? Well...
Most of the Gupta sculpture
I've seen is more ornate than the more western stuff. The figures
are more rounded, especially the female figures, many of which present
mammary contours that only exist today as a result of surgical intervention.
The clothing tends to be more complex, the hair too.
OK. I have looked at
pictures of bronze sculptures of northern India on numerous websites and
have come to the
conclusion that a lot of what the dealers have
they don't know exactly where it came from and they are guessing at the
attribution. This is partly the fault of international and local
national patrimony laws, which ineffectively try to keep artifacts where
they are but instead promote their clandestine destruction, theft, sale,
etc. They (we) get these things with find data that cannot necessarily
be taken at face value. When a thing is attributed to "Northern India,
5-9th century" that covers a lot of ground, almost the same as saying "I
don't know."
For what its worth, this piece
came to me in a box straight from Pakistan with a customs form describing
the contents as well as customs forms usually do.
Well then. I tried
to identify and attribute the thing. In my first attempt I came to
the following conclusion, which I quote verbatim:
+++
First, who is it? Turns
out that the lotus in her left hand and the position of her right hand
are attributes of the Mahayana Buddhist diety Tara. I can't find
any direct references to Tara as early as the Kushan period, but the Mahayana
was developing during that time. Of course we could be looking at
a Hindu diety, and I found a picture of one "Bhudevi" in a somewhat
similar attitude, though rendered in a vastly different style, as a statue
from 19th century southern India. Shall we provisionally call her
Tara?
The simplicity of her costume
points very strongly to an early date. Already by the 11th century
the depictions of divinities in the South Asian context are adorned with
all sorts of jewelry: multiple chains dangling over arms, legs, torsos,
etc., with elaborate crowns and doodads. The shape of the eyes tends
towards the Guptan. The shape of the mouth and the relatively svelte
body tend towards the Gandharan. Of course the find site screams
Gandhara, but could it be an import from the east, perhaps 11th century
Pala or somesuch? I ask myself why would it be imported to the Northwest
Frontier in the 11-12th century when the Turks were messing around causing
trouble? ...
I have to consider that this
piece is no later than the 5th century. And I think it is earlier,
maybe 2nd or 3rd. Look around on the web. There is nothing
like it to be seen, but the closest approach is either late Kushan or Gupta.
So, to capsulize the tentative
museum card, how about:
"Bronze statue of the Buddhist
diety Tara, late Gandhara or contemporary with early Gupta, c. 200-400
AD, from the Kushan ruins at Chakdara, near Swat, NWF, Pakistan."
+++
I posted a version of this page with that attribution
for exactly 2 days before I got an email from a guy who is from there telling
me that my attribution was highly unlikely and I should be thinking 17-19th
century. Some emails back and forth with my guy in Pakistan.
He stuck to his story - out of the ground, Chakdara. Promised to
research further.
So did I. I sent queries to several dealers
who handle southern Asian art. Got back one response. Told
me to look east, at Nepal & Tibet. So I did. There are
some similarities, but also some distinct differences, mainly in costume,
but also in body shape and treatment of the face. Look at any number
of things from Nepal & Tibet and notice some persistent similarities
that this piece does not have. I tried the thought of it coming from
there for several days but it did not seem right, although by then the
thought that it might be late Kushan was seeming increasingly dubious.
Speaking of dubious, no one who has seen this has
raised the possibility that it is a modern product.
So if it's not Kushan, not Gupta, not Pala, not
Nepal or Tibet, what?
Hephthalite? Don't be silly. Medieval
India of some sort? I don't think so. Breasts too small, not
enough jewelry. Back to the drawing board.
Various bits of data emerged. No third eyes
on Gandharan figures. Earliest figure of Tara from 7th century Ceylon.
Um...
I got an email from Pakistan. My guy wrote
that he talked to local expert who said "Hindushahi." Aha!
A lead. Back to the web and... nothing. Rather, nothing but
coins for about 50 websites before I finally blundered into this.
I went "Aha!" And now I'm happy.
I think this statue is Shahi. The Shahis were
Turks, or "Turko-Hephthalites," who ruled eastern Afghanistan and NWF in
Pakistan starting around 700 AD. They were pushed eastward by the
Muslim Ghaznavid Turks in the 11th century, took up residence in Ohind,
NWF, were pushed eastward again, and were finally extinguished east of
Lahore. Records are sparse, there is no coherent king list.
The coins are (mostly) abundant and well known. The art is, how shall
I say this? How about "rare and underappreciated."
I went looking for Shahi things
for sale. Simple. There are none. This is the only thing
on the web at this time (10/1/03).
Now, what about pricing?
Go look for "Gandhara sculpture" on the web. You will find all kinds
of prices, but everything is four figure, pretty much. Prices at
the source are interesting. I have seen various things (mostly stone)
offered for five figures and three figures. Obviously the former
do not get sold, and the latter, by the time they get to this side of the
mirror, are all four figures. I also know how the market works.
Someone like me beats on the seller until he gives in and sells it cheap
as possible, then I jack up the price to sell to you, the mark. However,
this particular piece is being marketed cooperatively. We are splitting
the profits, him, me, and the guy who found it. Fair as we can get
in this world of unfair advantage.
Is it worth it? If it
sells, yes. If it doesn't, no. Over to you.
home
email
Bob Reis
POB 26303
Raleigh NC 27611
USA
phone: (919) 787-0881
(8:30AM-10:30PM EST only please)
fax: (919) 787-1882
how to order