Object Description
A fragmentary Gandharan grey schist relief carved to show a robed female adorant in procession, bearing a lotus head. Plain unsculptured reverse. Mounted on a purpose-made stand.
The lotus symbolizes absolute purity and was significant in the Hindu and Buddhist arts of India. Its emergence from impure muddy water characterizes purity and perfection and provides the Buddhists a model, that aims to live a life of honesty and purity. The lotus flower also denotes “absolute awareness’, as it opens and closes in response to the presence or absence of the sun.
Circa 2nd-4th century A.D.