RICHMOND, VA. - Created nearly two millennia ago to adorn a
temple near the village of Hoti Mardan in Gandhara (present-day
Pakistan), the large stone sculpture of Buddha lay buried for
centuries.
In 1880, a farmer plowing a field in the Peshawar District of
northwest India accidentally uncovered remains of the temple, and
the 34-inch-tall sculpture again saw the light of day. A village
chieftain, the Khan of Dubyan, gave the magnificent piece to a
British district inspector of schools in India, Charles Pearson,
who in turn gave it in 1881 to his alma mater, Charterhouse, a
well-known boarding school in Surrey, England.
For another 121 years, the sculpture was housed in a small museum
at the school.
But this year, in order to raise funds for the school's library,
the Charterhouse governing body decided to sell its treasured
Buddha. Sotheby's, the New York auction house to whom the sale
was consigned, used an image of the sculpture on the cover of the
catalog for its September auction. The piece was purchased by an
anonymous bidder, and for several months, authorities and lovers
of the art of Southeast Asia speculated intently: Who purchased
this rare and stunning Buddha?
Now, the suspense has ended. The Buddha has been added to the
world-renowned collection of Indian art at the Virginia Museum of
Fine Arts.
"Very rarely does piece of this provenance, this age, this
aesthetic quality, this historical interest, come on the market,
and we are delighted beyond words to have acquired it," said Dr
Michael Brand, director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
The figure, carved from dark gray schist by an unknown sculptor
of the Second or Third Century AD, is cross-legged in a seated
position, in a pose of meditation. His facial expression is
serene and his earlobes are pierced and elongated to demonstrate
that he had worn heavy gold earrings as a young and worldly
prince.
The sculpture is expected to go on view in late 2003.
