Gandharan and Swat Metal Buddhas

Contrasting with the numerous Indo-Greek stone sculptures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from the greater Gandharan region (which includes Uddiyana and Bactria), only relatively few metal castings are known. This suggests that Gandharan metal statuary was reserved for elite purposes – such as in private chapels or as "pilgrimage" items transported out of Gandhara to distant places where Buddhism was gradually taking hold. It is also likely that much of the extant Gandharan metal statuary was cast from particularly valuable metals such as gold, silver or electrum and following the decline of Buddhism and rise of Moslem culture in the region, was looted and melted-down, to disappear forever. Chinese monks, pilgrims and historians of the period tell of seeing numerous gold or gilded Buddha images, and this is followed by Arab accounts of looted precious metal images of Buddhas taken to as far away as Baghdad or Damascus.

To the present time, probably less than fifty bronze or metal-alloy castings of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas have been documented as coming from the greater Gandharan region. These fall into two distinct categories - those attributed to Gandhara and Bactria - and those attributed to Swat /Uddiyana. Again these can be further categorized as standing figures and seated figures, both of which are generally attributed to between circa the 4th/5th century AD, to perhaps circa 6th/7th century AD. None have been excavated in controlled conditions and very few examples come with archaeological context or precise find-spots. Most information we have about metal castings of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas found in the Gandharan region is largely incomplete or just hearsay.

A review of published Gandharan metal standing Buddha figures in museum and private collections world-wide reveals less than two dozen known examples. To this one can now add the ten in the Buckingham Collection, which are published here for the first time. Seated metal Buddhas from Gandhara seem to be rarer – perhaps only a dozen recorded in museum and private collections world-wide. To this one can now add the five in the Buckingham Collection and additionally at least as many again relief seated Buddha figures on reliquary boxes or stupas. Among the seated Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the Buckingham Collection, noteworthy are; a unique gilded silver alloy example; an early gold applied decorative Buddha feature perhaps for an honorific umbrella; two extraordinary gold and silver repoussé goblets with narrative scenes; a gold repoussé funerary diadem; a gold seated Buddha pendant; a gilded necklace with six seated and a central fasting Buddha; as well as other never-before-seen exquisite examples of early Buddhist precious metal-work of Indo-Greek type, exhibited and published for the first time.

For the sake of completeness and context, included in the exhibition are some copper Kushan coins – showing the Buddha both standing and seated – together with a rare gold coin depicting a standing Buddha.

Additional to the Gandharan metal Buddha castings in the Buckingham Collection are a large group of metal Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the Swat/Uddiyana style. Mostly seated and depicting various subjects, they greatly expand our knowledge of this type of art – noteworthy in many instances for the type of "pinched" lotus base and inlaid silver eyes. This group of "Swat" type bronzes culminates in two extraordinarily beautiful metal castings of standing Bodhisattvas – one in silver alloy and the other in bronze. Pure transcendence – the very best of this type of art.

It is to be hoped that these approximately four dozen rare and exquisite bronze castings and repoussé precious metal masterpieces will help redefine and highlight the contribution that Gandhara and Swat/Uddiyana has made to the artistic, iconographic and spiritual message of this earliest phase of Buddhist imagery. All this new material, shown and published here for the first time after more than four decades of collecting, is a unique legacy not to be missed.