ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, 3RD-4TH CENTURY CE

Seated in dhyanasana with his hands in dhyanamudra in his lap, the Buddha in the present lot is finely carved and clad in a voluminous sanghati, elegantly draped over both shoulders. His face is delicately rendered with a bow-shaped mouth, an aquiline nose and gentle, downcast eyes, evoking the profound tranquillity of meditation. His hair is finely parted and gathered into a bun atop the ushnisha, while a nimbus frames his head. The Buddha sits upon a cushioned base, where shallow carvings suggest presence of draped fabrics cascading down the seat.
A cum laude graduate of Boston University Medical School, Ralph Marcove (1929-2001) was a pioneer in the field of orthopedic oncology. Over his distinguished 40-year career, he published over 300 articles and authored or co-authored several books relating to bone tumors, receiving numerous awards for his research and clinical treatments.
It was in the 1950s while he served as a physician in the U. S. Air Force in Japan that Dr. Marcove developed a keen interest in East Asian art. Dr. Marcove’s collecting journey brought him into the orbit of such leading Asian art dealers as Warren E. Cox (d. 1977), whom he considered an early mentor, and Roger Buckland Bluett (1925-2000) and Brian Morgan (b. 1930), both of Bluett and Sons, London. By the late 1970s, Dr. Marcove had assembled a sufficiently large and varied collection of Chinese art that in 1981 Yutaka Mino mounted an exhibition drawn from Dr. Marcove’s collection at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Over the following years, Dr. Marcove donated works to many distinguished museums, including Harvard Art Museums, Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the Palmer Museum of Art (Penn State University).