Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c7.82

c7.82

The next plate (No. III.) is from a magnificent colossal Buddhist statue, of the same idealised Yogi type, representing Indian art in Ceylon, where it was originally brought, together with the Buddhist religion, by the missionaries of Asoka, about 242 b.c. It probably is intended for the earthly Buddha, Gautama, as he sat in meditation under the bodhi-tree at Gaya. The age of this statue is uncertain, but I would suppose it to be somewhat earlier than the last. In the finished style of its technique it is fully equal to the Javanese example, and even surpasses the latter in its beautiful proportions. Indian Buddhist sculpture has perhaps never produced any finer single statue than this.