A SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA, SWAT VALLEY, 7TH-8TH CENTURY

拍品描述

A SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA, SWAT VALLEY, 7TH-8TH CENTURY Cast seated in dhyanasana on a double-lotus base, the Buddha rendered with broad shoulders and a compact, rounded torso enveloped in a sanghati draped over both shoulders. The robe falls in deeply incised, schematic folds that radiate across the chest and pool over the crossed legs, the hem visible across the ankles. The right hand rests open at the knee in what appears to be varadamudra, while the left is held in the lap. The face is full and ovoid, with downcast almond eyes inlaid in silver, an aquiline nose, and softly modelled lips set in a meditative expression. The cranial protuberance, or ushnisha, rises as a domed knob above tightly arranged hair, and the elongated earlobes hang to the shoulders. The lotus pedestal is articulated with broad, overlapping petals in two rows. The surface retains a dense, variegated patina of green and reddish-brown cuprite, with extensive encrustation across the drapery and base. The silver inlay surviving in the eyes is the principal refinement of the figure and remains characteristic of the bronze-casting tradition of the Swat Valley and the wider north-western Indian subcontinent during the post-Gandharan period. Inlay of this kind was reserved for the eyes and, occasionally, the urna, where the contrast of silver against the dark patinated bronze animated the face and signalled the presence of the deity within the image. The compact proportions, the heavy and ridged treatment of the drapery, and the broad double-lotus base are all features associated with portable devotional bronzes produced in the workshops of the Swat region, intended for personal worship and for placement within domestic shrines or monastic cells. The Swat Valley, ancient Uddiyana, occupied a distinctive position in the transmission of Buddhist art between the Gandharan heartland and the Himalayan kingdoms to the north and east. Bronzes from the region preserve the iconographic vocabulary of late Gandhara, particularly the heavy monastic robe and the meditative seated type, while incorporating local stylistic preferences for fuller facial modelling and more abstract, rhythmic drapery. The medium itself carries weight here: bronze casting in the Swat Valley was a specialised craft, the alloys frequently leaded to facilitate the casting of small devotional images, and the addition of silver inlay represented a deliberate investment of a precious material in the parts of the image considered most spiritually charged. Such figures travelled widely along the trans-Himalayan trade and pilgrimage routes, and Swat bronzes are documented as having reached western Tibet, where they were treasured and in some cases reconsecrated for use in later monastic contexts. This figure exemplifies the meditative seated Buddha as developed in the post-Gandharan bronze workshops of the Swat Valley, where the inherited classical naturalism of Gandhara was reformulated into a denser, more iconic mode of representation. The retention of silver inlay in the eyes, the integrity of the lotus pedestal, and the unbroken surface of the cast place this within the recognised corpus of small-scale Swat devotional bronzes intended for portable use. Height: 16cm

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