Bodhisattva Maitreya

In Asian religions the concept of Time is cyclical. The historic Buddha, Shakyamuni, was thus preceded by some buddhas of the past and was to be followed by Maitreya, the buddha to come. As a bodhisattva (future Awakened One) richly garbed and bejewelled, it is the latter that we can probably recognise here by his characteristic attribute: the small water vase held in his left hand. The work in all likelihood belonged to a larger composition in which a Buddha was surrounded by two Maitreya bodhisattvas, on his right, and Avalokiteshvara (the bodhisattva of compassion) on his left.

Dated to the 4^th-5^th centuries, this piece is representative of the period in which blossomed an art of modelling in stucco, tending to replace in Gandara the art of sculpture in schist. It is indeed posterior to the great Kuchan sovereigns (1^st-3^rd centuries) and would have accompanied the rise of the Buddhism known as “the Great Vehicle” or Mahayana,  that gives a more outstanding position/place to the various figures of the bodhisattvas. The piece, as Malraux wrote, testifies to the rare moment when Buddhism, far from disdaining the world, glorified its beauty.

Donation of the Society of the Friends of the Guimet Museum (SAMG)