Ancient region of Kushan, 2^nd-3^rd century. Seated with his hands resting on his legs and wings raised behind the shoulders, wearing only a loincloth, the face with almond-shaped eyes under arched eyebrows and above a thick mustache, the wavy hair arranged in a topknot, a halo behind him.

Provenance: Arthur Huc (1854-1932). Marcel Huc, inherited from the above. Thence by descent within the same family. Arthur Huc was the chief editor of La Dépêche du Midi, at the time the leading newspaper in Toulouse, France. He was also an accomplished art critic and early patron of several artists, including Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec. At the same time, Arthur Huc was a keen collector of Asian art, a passion that he inherited from his legendary ancestor Évariste Régis Huc, also known as the Abbé Huc (1813-1860), a French Catholic priest and traveler who became famous for his accounts of Qing-era China, Mongolia and especially the then-almost-unknown Tibet in his book “Remembrances of a Journey in Tartary, Tibet, and China”.
Inventory List: In 1954, L. Magniette, bailiff of the court in Toulouse (Huissier), was ordered to compile a complete inventory of the collection inherited by Marcel Huc from his father, Arthur Huc, the so-called “Inventaire Huc”. The present lot is listed in this inventory as part of a group of Gandhara stones as follows: “Seconde pièce cave- 32 pierres similaires Gandhara emballés- Bouddha et divers. (Voir suite)” (second room basement: 32 similar Gandhara stones wrapped- Buddhas and various. (see followup)). Copies of the inventory list and cover page accompany this lot.
Condition: Extensive weathering and wear. Few structural cracks, some with minor old fills. Bruises, losses, encrustation and erosion, all well visible on additional images at www.zacke.at. Remnants of an old varnish coating.
French Export License: Certificat d’exportation pour un bien culturel Nr. 185433 dated 3 July 2017 has been granted and accompanies this lot.

Weight: 23.4 kg
Dimensions: Height 49 cm

Only few sculptures communicate so clearly the Classical legacy in Gandharan art. His mature, bushy face recalls the portraits of Greek and Roman gods and leaders, while his herculean musculature evokes the athletic ideal. Furthermore, the Atlant type stems from a tradition in classical architecture of depicting male and female figures supporting architectural superstructures best known from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius, dedicated to Emperor Augustus (see Rowland, Vitruvius: Ten Books on Architecture, Cambridge, 1999, pages 83 and 135).

In the Gandharan context, similar examples in stucco surviving in situ line the veneer of stupa bases at Taxila and Hadda, recording the placement of such figures at Buddhist sites. Whilst maintaining a similar function and a clearly Western look, the Gandharan version differs from the classical prototype in the common inclusion of wings and the primarily ornamental rather than architectural function of the figure. Moreover, while we have evidence from which to understand his context at Buddhist sites, his precise identity remains a mystery. He has been called a disguised yaksha, a lesser Greek god, and a Garuda, yet there is no archaeological or textual foundation to underpin any of these claims (see Foucher, L’art Gréco-Bouddhique du Gandhara, 1905, page 208, and Errington, The Western Discovery of the Art of Gandhara and the Finds of Jamalgarhi, London, 1987, page 67). Perhaps, the term “Atlas” ties him too closely to the classical prototypes, at the risk of obscuring added layers of meaning in the unique Gandharan context.

Literature comparison: For a further discussion of winged Atlas figures from Gandhara, see P. Pal, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, vol 1, fig. 35, p. 68. For similar examples of winged “Atlas” figures, see W. Zwalf, A Catalogue of the Gandhara Sculpture at the British Museum, 1996, pp. 206-211, fig. 355-368. Two other examples survive in the Claude de Marteau collection in Brussels and the Peshawar Museum (see Kurita, Gandharan Art, vol. II, Tokyo, 1990, figs. 448 & 453, pp. 155 & 157).

Auction result comparison: A related schist figure of winged Atlas was sold in these rooms in Fine Chinese Art, Buddhism and Hinduism on 25 April 2020, lot 424, for EUR 74,820. Compare also with a related schist figure of a winged atlas, of slightly smaller size (40 cm high), at Bonhams New York in Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art on 17 March 2014, lot 66, sold for USD 245,000.

健陀羅擎天神阿特拉斯片岩像
貴霜帝國，二至三世紀。阿特拉斯像雕刻逼真、雄偉有力，頭頂上方殘留頂柱，雙手分別撐在膝蓋上，肩膀後面張開翅膀，腰布覆蓋著下身，臉上眉毛上供，濃密的卷鬚，杏仁狀的眼睛，卷髮，有光背。

來源：Arthur Huc (1854-1932)收藏。 Marcel Huc繼承，自此保存在同一家族至今。 Arthur Huc是La Dépêchedu Midi的主編，這是當時法國圖盧茲的主要報紙。他還是一位出色的藝術評論家，也是包括Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec在內的幾位藝術家的早期贊助人。同時，Arthur Huc是一位熱衷於亞洲藝術的收藏家，他的熱情源於他的傳奇祖先Évariste Régis Huc，中文名為古察伯（1813-1860），是法國天主教神父和旅行作家，在他的《韃靼西藏旅行記》書中描述了他在清朝的遊歷以及對蒙古尤其是當時幾乎鮮為人知的西藏的敘述。
收藏清單：1954年，圖盧茲法院法警 L. Magniette奉命對Marcel Huc從其父親Arthur Huc繼承的收藏品進行完整目錄彙編，即所謂的“ Inventaire Huc”。此拍品也在當時列出的收藏清單中“ Seconde pièce cave- 32 pierres similaires Gandhara emballés- Bouddha et divers. (Voir suite)” (第二個房間的地下室：32 塊類似的犍陀羅石像——佛像和其他造像。) 隨附清單和封面副本。
品相：廣泛的風化和磨損。 些微裂縫。在www.zacke.at的細圖上可以看到一些斷裂，缺損失和侵蝕。舊漆餘留。
法國出口證書：隨附2017年7月3日簽署的Certificat d’exportation pour un bien culturel Nr. 185433

重量：23.4 公斤
尺寸：高49 厘米

拍賣結果比較：一件相近片岩阿特拉斯見本拍賣行Fine Chinese Art, Buddhism and Hinduism 拍場，2020年4月25日 lot 424, 售價EUR 74,820。；一件相近片岩展翼阿特拉斯 (高40 厘米) 見紐約邦瀚斯 Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art 拍場2014年3月17日 lot 66, 售價USD 245,000。