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国内拍卖首页 > Galerie Zacke > 第一天——精美的亚洲艺术、佛教与印度教 > Lot 0188
AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE BUDDHIST GOLD SUTRA MANUSCRIPT, KHAROSTHI SCRIPT, ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA,
奥地利
2025年10月16日 开拍
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CIRCA 1ST-4TH CENTURYExpert's note:This rare inscribed gold sheet—possibly unique within the surviving corpus—stands as an extraordinary witness to the religious and artistic culture of Gandhara. While a comprehensive body of Gandhari manuscripts and reliquaries exists, all inscribed in the distinctive Kharosthi script, examples executed in precious metal are vanishingly scarce. The majority of surviving manuscripts, dated between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, are written on fragile birchbark scrolls and represent the canonical literature of Gandharan Buddhism in the Gandhari language, often considered part of the Dardic family.Comparable epigraphic material on gold or silver survives only in the rarest instances. One notable parallel is a gold plate measuring 11 x 4 cm, inscribed in seven lines of Kharosthi, discovered within a stone reliquary at Matta in the Swat Valley and now preserved in the Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum first published by Gerard Fussman, “Documents épigraphiques kouchans (IV): Ajitasena, père de Senavarma”, Bulletin de l'école fran?aise d'Extrême?Orient, 1986, 75: 1-14. Another exceptional example is the silver scroll, dated to the year 89 AD during the reign of the first Kushana king, Kujula Kadphises, unearthed by Sir John Marshall in 1914 in a chamber to the west of the Dharmarajika Stupa in Taxila, now in the collection of the National Museum in New Delhi. Both show the same punctured dots of the lettering as the present lot.The rarity of such survivals, combined with the unparalleled sanctity and prestige attached to relic dedications, underscores the significance of the present gold book. Beyond its function as a votive offering, it is a testament to the devotional fervor, artistic refinement, and epigraphic sophistication of Gandharan Buddhism at its height.Kushan empire, 2nd-3rd century. The book composed of six gold-sheet pages minutely punched in Kharosthi script, the cover sheet neatly incised with an image of Buddha's feet (Buddhapada), the third page with three stupas, and the back sheet with a swastika emblem, all joined by a central gold stud. Provenance: Ex-Collection of The Zelnik István Southeast Asian Gold Museum. Institutional art collection in Belgium, acquired from the above. Dr. István Zelnik, President of the Hungarian South and Southeast Asian Research Institute, is a former high-ranking Hungarian diplomat who spent several decades in Southeast Asia, building the largest known private collection of Asian art in Europe. Condition: Good condition with expected wear, minor encrustations, few minuscule tears, minor creasing, tiny nicks.Alloy composition range: 90.22% gold, 9.71% silver, 0,06% copper. The lot was tested by the Zelnik István Southeast Asian Gold Museum.Weight: 50.9 g Dimensions: Size 9.6 x 7.7 cmThe literary and archaeological record of Gandhara evokes a landscape resplendent with monasteries and reliquaries, where Buddhist devotion was intimately bound to the veneration of relics. Chinese pilgrims describe a culture steeped in relic cult, and the archaeological corpus of stupas and reliquaries consistently affirms this impression. Central to this practice were inscribed dedications, highly formulaic yet charged with ritual significance, which functioned as foundational artefacts at the intersection of state patronage and monastic authority. Their role in shaping Buddhist religious culture has been compared in scope and significance to the Asokan inscriptions themselves, as civilization-defining markers of religious and political life.The present manuscript is decorated with three iconic Buddhist motifs:Buddhapada is one among a set of auspicious symbols that were used for the aniconic representation of the Buddha before the anthropomorphic form was developed in Gandhara and Mathura. The earliest archaeological evidence of Buddhapada dates to the 2nd century BC, when it was depicted in the Bharhut relief sculptures. See a green schist Buddhapada from the Ancient Region of Gandhara, dated 2nd-4th century, sold at Christie's New York, 23 September 2020, lot 618.The swastika is the Indic representation of one of humanity's oldest and most consistently used symbols across nearly every human culture. It has more than 10,000 years of positive associations behind it, continuing actively to this day with more than a billion people continuing this tradition. Compare a closely related gold swastika amulet, Taxila, dated to the 1st century BC, in the National Museum, New Delhi, accession number 49.262/10.The stupa is probably the most popular monument in early Buddhism and takes its origin from the burial mound. The earliest examples were constructed to store Buddha's ashes and relics. In due course they were built to store the remains of Buddha's famous disciples or holy manuscripts. See a gold 'Thousand Buddha' reliquary stupa, formerly in the collection of Dr. Zelnik, and sold in these rooms, 10 April 2025, lot 180.

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