斯瓦特峽谷 七/八世紀 石雕蓮花手坐像來源:於1984年9月購自倫敦古董商Spink & Son, Ltd.私人珍藏,購自約1995年Dharma珍藏,現家族傳承Hauteur: 79 cm. (31 in.), socle
With Spink & Son, Ltd., London, by September 1984. Private collection, acquired circa 1995. The Dharma collection, and thence by descent to the present owner.
Padmapani, the "Holder of the Lotus," is a form of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. While later Kashmiri and Nepalese figures of Padmapani depict him standing, most Swat Valley sculptures show him seated with his leg raised and his right hand drawn to his shoulder or chin. The prototype for this pose is the "pensive bodhisattva" that emerged in Gandhara in the early centuries CE. One interpretation identifies these figures as the Prince Siddhartha himself, who in watching the plowing of his father's fields, began to meditate on the suffering of all beings. The serene pose of these figures, articulating the compassion shown by the young Buddha, naturally suited depictions of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, with the inclusion of the lotus as an identifying iconographic symbol.