{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O61407"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O61407/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AU5142/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AU5142/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AU5142","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JT7098","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O61407/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O61407","accessionNumber":"IS.12-1948","objectType":"Figure","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This standing Buddha was originally a portable processional shrine. It is assembled from a figure, base and nimbus. The projection at the summit of the nimbus was intended to support an honorific umbrella, a signifier of rank. \r\n\r\nThe sophisticated figure conforms closely to a known group of such processional images from Gandhara, north-west India. Here he stands with his right hand raised in a gesture of reassurance (‘abhaya-mudra’), looking directly at the devotee. The right knee is flexed and the deeply fluted, gracefully draped robes clearly define the body of the Buddha. \r\n\r\nThe hair is represented with wavy lines that cover a prominent skull protruberance (‘ushnisha’). The figure is framed by a radiating back plate with flames and pearl projections. These are reminiscent of the flaming aureole associated with the Buddha imagery as a source of light (‘radiance’). They also perhaps allude to when he made flames miraculously emit from his shoulders. \r\n\r\nThe figure stands on a moulded rectangular base close in style to those being produced in Gupta workshops of northern India in the 5th and 6th centuries. It displays a number of the Buddha’s auspicious body markings (‘laksanas’), notably the ‘ushnisha’, the forehead mark (‘urna’), extended earlobes, hand-markings and webbed fingers.","physicalDescription":"Standing figure of the Buddha with the right hand raised in a gesture of reassurance (abhaya- mudra). The hair is represented by wavy lines which cover a prominent ushnisha. The robes cover both shoulders and hang in loose folds. With its radiating backplate and characteristic typology, this 'Gandhara bronze' has a single pearl on the extremity of the spokes, the pearl on the oval's inner edge is now positioned on its either side rather in the centre; and a spike protrudes from the top of the nimbus. The figure shows its right knee flexed and the weight of the body resting on the left leg, more relaxed. The face, with its fleshy cheeks, pursed lips, high forehead and wide-open eyes with incised pupils, has greater individuality and the hair, in contrast to the Indianising flattened curls is wavy in the manner of conventional Gandhara schist Buddhas. The stepped and moulded base has been seen  before in more elevated form on the 'Gandhara bronze' from Afghanistan.\r\n\r\nThe original function of the' Gandhara bronze'  as a portable shrine becomes fully apparent here with the assemblage of all three componant parts.   However, the curiously unfinished appearance of the protruding spike on the statue suggests that the composition may lack yet another component.The spike here may signify a stupa spire, the Buddhist equivalent of the axis mundi, and it may also have supported an umbrella, possibly of similar post-Gupta type.\r\nThe evidence deriving from the style of the face and base combined with that of the backplate design and halo spike can be seen to support the same fifth to seventh century AD range assigned the other 'Gandhara bronzes'.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"copper alloy","id":"AAT10942"}],"techniques":[{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Copper alloy","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Buddhism","id":"THES48984"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Figures","id":"THES274372"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006AU5142","2017JT7098"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"47A (VA)","id":"THES49797"},"free":"","case":"CA008","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Figure","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Pakistan","id":"x30015"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 6th century","earliest":"0495-01-01","latest":"0604-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased from Major General A L Haughton.","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"38.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"18","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased from Major General A L Haughton. A similar bronze owned by Mr P Jeannerat's collection.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Standing Buddha offering reassurance, copper alloy, Gandhara, Pakistan, c 6th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"L'escultura en el temples indis : l'art de la devoció : exposició organitzada per la Fundació \"La Caixa\" i el Victoria & Albert Museum, Londres. [Barcelona: Obra social, Fundació \"la Caixa\", c2007 Number: 9788476649466","id":"AUTH339669"},"details":"p.134, Cat. 90","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"The Crossroads of Asia, Transformation in Image and Symbol, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1922, Mr N Kreitman, p220-222, No 211\r\nD. Barrett: \"Gandhara Bronzes\"  The Burlington Magazine Vol. C 11 1960. pp. 361-65."}],"production":"Sahri Bahlol, Gandhara","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"Buddhism","id":"AAT73738"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"BUDDHA OFFERING REASSURANCE\r\nCopper alloy\r\nReportedly found at Sahri Bahlol, Gandhāra, Pakistan\r\nGandhāra style\r\n5th – 6th century\r\n\r\nIS 12-1948\r\nThe Buddha, his right hand raised in the gesture of reassurance (abhaya mudra), is set against an elaborate halo and nimbus with radiating border.  This sculpture belongs to a small group of known bronzes in the late Gandhāran style which parallel the Gupta tradition of North India.\r\n\r\n","date":{"text":"25/09/2000","earliest":"2000-09-25","latest":"2000-09-25"}},{"text":" Buddha Offering Reassurance\r\n500–600\r\nThis was originally a portable processional shrine. The Buddha, his hand raised in the gesture of reassurance is set against an elaborate nimbus. This radiates flames and pearls, evoking the idea of the Buddha as a source of light. The cranial bump, forehead mark, stretched ear lobes, hand markings and webbed fingers are among the characteristic marks of the Buddha.\r\nCopper alloy\r\nGandhara/North-west Pakistan\r\nReportedly found at Sahri Bahlol\r\nMuseum no. IS.12-1948","date":{"text":"06/06/2011","earliest":"2011-06-06","latest":"2011-06-06"}}],"partNumbers":["IS.12-1948"],"accessionNumberNum":"12","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":1948,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2016JG1649","2019LM5849","2019LN5738","2019LR3111","2019LW7264","2019LW5786","2020MP2051","2020MP2164","2020MP2166"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-20","recordCreationDate":"2001-07-26","availableToBook":false}}