[nb-NO]Details[nb-NO]
CollectionSouth & Southeast Asian Collection
[nb-NO]Object number[nb-NO]S1959-0010-001-0
[nb-NO]Title[nb-NO]Gandaran Buddha
[nb-NO]Description[nb-NO]The standing image of Buddha wearing sanghati covering both the shoulders represents Buddha in abhaya mudra with right hand, which is now broken. The edge of the sanghati is held in the left hand. The halo is broken but there is a slight suggestion of it over the shoulders. This standing figure of Buddha on a pedestal with feet wearing slippers and depicting the dharmachakra is recently appraised to be mismatched, raising the possibility that the body and feet including the pedestal belong to two different sculptures. From studies of the iconography of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Gandhara region, one notices that the Bodhisattvas are usually depicted wearing slippers and other princely attire, and not the Buddhas. (Extracted from Past, Present, Beyong - Re-nascence of an Art-Collection)“This standing image of Buddha wearing ‘sanghati’ covering both the shoulders represents Buddha in ‘abhaya mudra’ with right hand, which is now broken. The edge of the ‘sanghati’ is held in the left hand. The halo is broken but there is a slight suggestion of it over the shoulders. This standing figure of Buddha on a pedestal with feet wearing slippers and depicting the ‘dharmachakra’ is recently appraised to be mismatched, raising the possibility that the body and feet including the pedestal belong to two different sculptures. From studies of the iconography of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Gandhara region, one notices that the Bodhisattvas are usually depicted wearing slippers and other princely attire, and not the Buddhas. (Past, Present , Beyond: Re-nascence of an Art Collection, Page 31-33)In celebration of Singapore gaining selfgovernance status in 1959 the Indian Government donated a series of Sculptures and modem artworks to the then university of Malaya museum. The donation was facilitated by Sir Malcolm Macdonald, Chancellor of university of Malaya and British High Commissioner to India in the 1950's. In the donation was a Standing Buddha from Gandhara, in which the religious idioms of Buddhism and Bodhisattva are expressed. In 1959, this standing figure of the Buddha was displayed on a plinth with feet wearing slippers. However, at the inaugural exhibition of the NUS Museum in 2002, the curators were informed about the possible mismatch between the body and feet, raising the possibility that the body and the feet belong to two different sculptures. As such, from studies on the iconography of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Gandhara region, one notices that the Bodhisattvas are usually depicted wearing slippers and other princely attire, and not the Buddhas. (Source: Camping and Tramping, An Anecdotal Guide to Objects, Accumulations – Object, Order, Wonder, Part (c), No 156).
[nb-NO]Production place[nb-NO]India, Northwest, Ghandara
[nb-NO]Date[nb-NO] 1959
[nb-NO]Production period[nb-NO]3rd - 4th C, Ghandara
[nb-NO]Object category[nb-NO]Classical Sculpture
[nb-NO]Material[nb-NO]Schist
[nb-NO]Dimensions[nb-NO]
H: 56 cm
L: 25 cm
W: 13 cm
L: 25 cm
W: 13 cm
[nb-NO]Credit line[nb-NO]Donated by the Indian Government