Greystones Fine Interiors

Description

An ancient Gandharan grey schist carving of a youthful Atlas, dating to the 2nd - 3rd century AD. The figure, crouching with one leg folded beneath his kilted trunk, with thick beard and wavy hair, has the physique of a wrestler, his broad and powerful chest clearly reflect the strength of the primordial God who held up the celestial sphere. Gandharan Sculpture was produced in parts of modern day India, Pakistan and Afghanistan from the first century AD. This region had a long standing association with the classical western world as from the third century BC these areas were ruled by the Graeco-Bactrians, the successors of Alexander the Great's farthest flung kingdom. Settlers from the Greek world brought with them a multitude of influences including artistic traditions. Though the fortunes of the Bactrians waned, they left a lasting aesthetic legacy upon the region they had once ruled. This carving was produced at a time when Gandharan's urban elite had developed a refined taste for foreign goods, as such Gandharan artists were using figures from classical Greek mythology to form the motifs for their work. This magnificent carving is a beautiful example of the hybridisation of both 2nd century Gandharan art and society.

Condition: Unrestored, with minor fragments and abrasions.Cf. Jongeward, D. Buddhist Art of Gandhara in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2018, item 149.

10.8 kg total, 42cm with stand (16 1/2"). From a North West London collection previously acquired in the 1980s. Fine condition.