PANNEAU DE SCHISTE REPRÉSENTANT DEUX BODHISATTVAS ANCIENNE RÉGION DU GANDHARA, III/IVE SIÈCLEPANNEAU DE SCHISTE REPRÉSENTANT DEUX BODHISATTVASANCIENNE RÉGION DU GANDHARA, III/IVE SIÈCLE27.5 cm (10 7/8 in.) highA SCHIST PANEL OF TWO BODHISATTVAS ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 3RD/4TH CENTURY 犍陀羅 三/四世紀 片岩二菩薩石碑 Provenance:With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970sThe two bodhisattvas sit with feet resting on lotus pads that rise from a rippling body of water. Probably representing the most prominent bodhisattvas in Gandharan Buddhism, Maitreya and Avalokiteshvara, they likely formed part of a retinue flanking Buddha. The identification of the figures is supported by the common mudra for Maitreya, with his hands joined in the teaching gesture, and Avalokitesvara, with his right hand raised in the gesture of reassurance (abhaya mudra) while his left holds the base of a lotus stem. Compare with the posture of a figure from Taxila (Marshall, Taxila, 1951, no. 320). The remains of a similarly seated bodhisattva flank a niched central figure at Jaulian Monastery, Taxila (Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, 1957, no. 543). Also see a related stucco bodhisattva seated in meditation (ibid., no. 542), and a similarly seated Buddha in the British Museum (Zwalf, Gandharan Sculpture, 1990, p. 310, no. 587; Luczanits, Gandhara, 2008, p. 57, no. 79).