A SCHIST RELIEF PANEL OF FIVE MONKS AND THE ASCETICS ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, CIRCA 3RD CENTURYA SCHIST RELIEF PANEL OF FIVE MONKS AND THE ASCETICSANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY20 3/4 x 15 3/4 in. (52.7 x 40 cm)犍陀羅 約三世紀 片岩五僧人及眾苦行者石碑This Gandharan relief was likely part of a false gable that once adorned the dome of a stupa. Its lower register depicts youthful devotees in Greek-styled dress and hair together with hunched-back ascetics. A stupa drum panel fragment from Swat or Buner, now in the British Museum, has a similar representation of ascetics (see Zwalf, Gandharan Sculpture, 1996, p. 275, pl. 499). The scene at the upper register of monks receiving food from begging bowls, on the other hand, is a rare feature among Gandharan panels, at least when compared to monks folding their hands in meditation as they listen to the Buddha's First Sermon at the Deer Park. Furthermore, the fact that the female attendant prioritizes the monk rather than the historical Buddha himself, suggests that the panel is decorative rather than narrating a specific tale. Compare with a related example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, see H.C. Ackermann, Narrative Stone Reliefs from Gandhara, 1975, p. 99-10, no. XXXV, and another panel sold at Bonhams, New York, 11 September 2012, lot 34. Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, 24 March 2004, lot 3The Rapoport Collection, New York