The sculpture is made of a distinctive pale grayish pink sandstone with black inclusion spots (quartz/quartzrose wacke). Known as ‘Chunar’ sandstone, it was used in the 3rd century BCE to make the highly polished edict pillars of the Mauryan King Ashoka and several extant early sculptures from Sarnath dating from the 3rd–1st century BCE, and myriad Buddhas from Sarnath dating from the 5th century CE. Formerly believed to be from the Chunar quarry in the Mirzapur District, it is now thought to be from the Pabosa (Pabhosa) quarry in the Allahabad District (Harry Falk 2006).
Stylistically, the LACMA sculpture shares many of the classic characteristics of a Sarnath Buddha from their mature phase beginning in the mid-470s. The Buddha’s robe is transparent and contours to the elegantly swayed body, resulting in the famous ‘wet look.’ The diaphanous garb is chiefly discernible by the bunched folds of the upper garment encircling the neckline and by the cloth belt used to secure the lower garment, the tied ends of which fall naturalistically onto the upper left thigh. Significantly, the presence of the belt is a probative chronological and visual marker for a small group of belted Buddhas that predates the mature phase of Sarnath Buddhas, which are depicted without belts (Joanna Williams 1982). It is also one of the primary iconographic indicators of the sectarian affiliation of Sarvastivadin Buddhist monks and, hence, the Buddha images they patronized.
See Stephen Markel, "Reattribution of an Important Early Indian Buddha Image in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art." In Temple Architecture and Imagery of South and Southeast Asia: Prāsādanidhi: Papers Presented to Professor M.A. Dhaky, eds. P. Dhar and G. Mevissen (New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 2016), pp. 262-272.
