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Lot 1
A rare terracotta tile with ascetics
Estimated Value:
2.000 € - 3.000 €
Result:
incl. Premium and VAT
Description:
Kashmir, Harwan, ca. 4th-5th century51 x 30,5 x 7 cm
Rectangular tile, moulded in relief: in the centre two emaciated ascetics sitting in niches, knees drawn up in a contemplative pose, their long hair falling over their shoulders. Above them is a frieze of fountains behind a balustrade, below a row of water vials (hamsa) between tendrils.
From the collection of the diplomat Dr. Willi Albert Ritter (1915 - 2000), collected in the diplomatic service until 1980 in Asia
Tiles of this type come from the famous Buddhist monastery complex of Harwan near Srinagar in the Kashmir Valley, a site that became famous for its richly decorated terracotta baths and architectural decorative elements. As this temple is Buddhist in character, the presence of emaciated naked ascetics is not easy to explain; they are more likely to be understood in the context of the Hindu Shiva tradition. As this blending of Buddhist and Hindu imagery is also found at other contemporary sites in Afghanistan and western India, the tile appears to be part of a wider exchange that may have taken place in connection with the rise of esoteric or Vajrayana Buddhism. Numbers in Kharoshthi script are carved into the tile, presumably to facilitate its placement. The iconography with the impressive juxtaposition of ascetic figures, devotees in the upper arcades and the symbolic water veins shows the characteristic fusion of Gandharic, Central Asian and local Kashmiri traditions in the Gupta period.
A closely related example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 1998.122) with identical three-zone composition, see
