FRAGMENT DE BAS-RELIEF REPRÉSENTANT LA SCÈNE DE L'ÉCHANGE DE VÊTEMENTS EN SCHISTE GRISANICENNE RÉGION DE GANDHARA, IIE/IIIE SIÈCLE32.7 x 34.5 cm (12 7/8 x 13 5/8 in.)Provenance: A GREY SCHIST PANEL OF THE EXCHANGE OF CLOTHESANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY犍陀羅 二／三世紀 片岩太子易衣圖石碑Published:Isao Kurita,Gandharan Art, Vol. I, Tokyo, 1998 & 2003, p. 89, no. 164.Provenance:With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970sThe panel's intriguing subject recalls Siddhartha's encounter with a group of hunters in a forest following his departure from the capital of Kapilavastu. Here, the prince swaps his royal outfit for a simpler attire provided by the hunter closest to him. He is joined on the far right by the Buddhist protector Vajrapani wielding a thunderbolt (vajra).Stylistically, the panel is closely related to several gathered by British soldiers and displayed at the Guide Mess at Mardan before being presented to the British Museum (see Ingholt,Gandharan Art in Pakistan, 1957, nos. 16, 26 & 50; see no. 46 for another example of the present panel's subject).