Gandhara region
Second to fourth century CE
Schist; 9.5 x 38.1 x 8.3 cm
(3-3/4 x 15 x 3-1/4 in.)
Gift of Charles Millard in honor of Gilbert
and Clara Yager, 2000.9.1
Provenance: Acquired 5 June 2000
from Sotheby’s New York, lot 10.

A wrist displaying an elaborate bracelet and a hand holding an ornamented waterpot (kamandalu) provide clues to the identity of the life-sized figure to which this fragment once belonged. As accoutrements, the waterpot and the jeweled bangle adorn a variety of Kushan images. The former is typically an implement used by an ascetic, while the latter commonly embellishes royal figures. Bodhisattvas also display an ascetic’s waterpot, but unlike the ascetic, their royal costume and elaborate jewelry point to their place in the world, and their princely status as celestial beings (Fig. 23).

Scholars have identified the bodhisattva carrying the waterpot as Maitreya, the bodhisattva of the future, on the basis of the Ramnagar image from the Mathura region, which is explicitly identified as Maitreya by its inscription.1 In the absence of inscribed sculptures from Gandhara, however, we can only speculate that the life-sized figure bearing this arm was Maitreya, whose vessel contains the elixir of immortality.

Between its fore and middle fingers, the Ackland’s Hand with Waterpot holds an ovoid waterpot with three decorative bands separated by ornamental borders. This rich ornament points to Gandhara’s complex artistic relationship with the Roman east.2 Braided and beaded patterns set between listels such as those enclosing a variety of motifs from Palmyra3 and Iran frame the rows of hexagonal and double-outlined lotus petals.4 The blown flower in the center relief is one of four motifs that alternate around the body of the flask.

Surrounded by similar beading and geometric forms resembling jewels, the ornament finds close parallels in the diadems and jewelry worn by the deceased women on Palmyrene funerary stele.5 Similar to the ornament on Palmyrene funerary furniture is the treatment of the ring of vertical stamens upon which the centrally grooved lotus petals rest.6 The wide bracelet with circular, triangular, and teardrop-shaped jewels shares further decorative elements with the headdress of the deceased women.7 AMB

1 The earliest images identified as Maitreya, dressed in regal costume and holding the waterpot, come from the regions of Girdharpur in Mathura and Ramnagar (70 miles southwest), where epigraphical and stylistic evidence places them in the second century CE. The Ramnagar inscription reads: “The image of Maitreya installed for the benefit and happiness of all beings.” See John M. Rosenfield, The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans (Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967), 229–30. The inscription from the Girdharpur piece reads, “In the year 29 of the Maharaja Huvishka . . . this image was installed by Karatita (a resident) of Araki in the . . . vihara for the acceptance of the Dharmaguptika for the welfare of all beings.” Rosenfield dates the year 29 to Huvishka’s reign during the mid-second century CE. The image is thought to be Maitreya, based on its stylistic affinities with the Ramnagar figure. Rosenfield suggests, however, that since similar images found in Gandhara are far greater in number and visually more elaborate, the center of the Maitreya cult was likely situated in the northwest in the years 31 to 32. Although no inscribed sculptures of Maitreya survive from Gandhara, Kanishka’s coins found in this region support such a reading. They display a seated figure holding a waterpot and bearing an inscription that names Maitreya. See Joe Cribb, “The Origin of the Buddha Image: the Numismatic Evidence,” in South Asian Archaeology, ed. Bridget Allchin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), and “A Re-examination of the Buddha Images on the Coins of King Kanishka: New Light on the Origins of the Buddha Image in Gandharan Art,” in Studies in Buddhist Art of South Asia, ed. A.K. Narain (New Delhi: Kanak Publications, 1985). See also Inchang Kim, The Future Buddha Maitreya: An Iconological Study, Series of The Emerging Perceptions in Buddhist Studies, no.7 (New Delhi: D.K. Printworld Ltd., 1997), 73–75.
2 See Wladimir Zwalf, A Catalogue of the Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum (London: British Museum Press, 1996), 11–20.
3 Situated along the Euphrates, Palmyra was one of the main centers along the trade routes connecting Gandhara with the western Mediterranean world. Palmyra was the stopping point for gold and silver, and an important site for jewelry workshops where styles converged. Gold Jewelry: Craft, Style and Meaning from Mycenae to Constantinople, ed. Tony Hackens and Rolf Winkes (Belgium: Art and Archaeology Publications, Louvain-La-Neuve, 1983), 115–16, 122.
4 Perhaps originally meant to simulate pearls, this pattern is depicted not only in jewelry, but also in architecture and textiles, particularly in the Iranian world. Malcolm A. R. Colledge, The Art of Palmyra (London: Thames and Hudson, 1976), 150, 214–16.
5 Ibid., figs. 61, 62, 64, 83, 85 and 92.
6 Ibid., figs. 100, 101.
7 Compare with the Ackland’s Syrian Funerary Relief. The William A. Whitaker Art Fund, 79.29.1.