Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Rare Gandharan Relief Sets Record at Christie’s for $6.6 M.

September 24, 2020 by Angelica Villa

A Rare And Magnificent Gray Schist Relief Triad Of Buddha Shakyamuni With Bodhisattvas. Courtesy Christies.

A rare gray relief sculpture dated from the 3rd to 4th century from the Gandharan region sold for $6.6 million at Christie’s during the auction house’s Asia week sales. It beat its estimate of $600,000 to $800,000 and set a global record for a Gandharan artwork. Christie’s sale of devotional Gandharan works held on September 23 brought in a total of $13.9 million across 22 lots. Each lot was placed with a buyer.

Seated on a lotus flower, the central figure Buddha is flanked by bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya. According to the object’s catalogue essay, the figures are located under the boughs of a tree “carved with such depth as to appear almost in the round, the emerging torsos of Brahma and Indra behind contribute to the sense of deep perspective.” The triad represented in the present work is a well known scheme in Gandharan art.

The piece came to auction from a Japanese collection where it resided for three decades. It was previously in the collection of Brussels-based Claude de Marteau in 1973. It has been exhibited widely and studied by scholars. It was featured in the traveling show “Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago and The Brooklyn Museum in 1985. Most recently it was shown at the Shizuoka Museum of Art and throughout Japan from 2007 to 2008.

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Art Sales Approaching 2008 PaceArt Sales Approaching 2008 Pace
  • Lindemann's Mixed Feelings About MurakamiLindemann's Mixed Feelings About Murakami
  • Would an Artist’s Resale Right Help Stop Fakes in China?Would an Artist’s Resale Right Help Stop Fakes in China?
  • Hirst Ends His Reign NeatlyHirst Ends His Reign Neatly
  • The Lost Vollard Collection Trapped in Serbian Museum StorageThe Lost Vollard Collection Trapped in Serbian Museum Storage
  • Bonhams Continues to Dominate Irma Stern Market with $1.2m SaleBonhams Continues to Dominate Irma Stern Market with $1.2m Sale

Filed Under: General

About Angelica Villa

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Rare Photo Album by Dutch Street Photographer Bought at Auction by Rijksmuseum
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Phillips Includes $2.5m Norman Rockwell Painting in November Evening Sale
  • Mapping a Career in the Art World
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor