Gandhara relief fragment "Buddha's first sermon".... Lot 414

Gandhara relief fragment "Buddha's first sermon". Gandhara, 2nd - 3rd century A.D. H 30 cm, W 31 - 40 cm. Relief fragment of gray slate. Multi-figure, carved high relief depicting the Buddha's first sermon in Sanarth. Buddha seated frontally on a pedestal with his hand raised in the lotus position, surrounded by three ascetics and deities to his left. Two reclining gazelles under the pedestal, large branches in the background. Mounted on a wooden plinth. The Sermon of Sanarth, on the outskirts of the city of Benares, was the first teaching discourse of the historical Buddha Siddharta Gautama after his enlightenment, which he received under the Bodhi tree. At the seer's stone in the gazelle grove in Benares, Buddha proclaimed to his followers the Middle Way he had found. Hanging hole right center. Broken off diagonally at the left edge. Provenance: Ex collection J.H., Munich, acquired late 1990s to before 2004.