One of Australia's wealthiest women, Roslyn Packer, could afford the price tag on almost anything. But unveiling the National Gallery of Australia's latest acquisition today, Ms Packer marvelled at a sculpture she refused to put a price tag on, describing it as priceless.
Ms Packer, head of the gallery's acquisition committee, made a donation towards the cost of the 2nd century Indian sculpture, the oldest Buddha in Australia.
How much, neither she nor the gallery would say, but without it the gallery admits it would not have been able to afford one of the earliest human-like depictions of Buddha.
Ms Packer said the gallery had been very anxious to acquire the red sandstone piece that had been on loan from a private New York collection.
"I'm very keen about Buddhas and very happy to assist with its acquisition," she said.
"We were very anxious to acquire it."
Ms Packer said she had a special interest in Asian art.
"Living in this area, Asian art was my first interest. I like this piece –it's very powerful, it's very early, it's amazing."
The sculpture was created during the Kushan Dynasty and is one of the first-ever human-like depictions of Buddha.
Before this period, Buddha had been depicted by symbols such as footprints, trees and animals, all alluding to aspects of the Buddha's life. NGA senior curator of Asian art Robyn Maxwell said the sculpture helped explain Buddhism and the development of Indian and South-East Asian art.
"The sculpture is what we now think is the shape of the Buddha, but until this point Buddha looked very different –it was actually symbols and looked quite Greek," Mrs Maxwell said.
"It was only in the Kushan period they worked out how they were going to display the Buddha.
"These artists could not have conceived that what they came up with would have lasted for the next few thousand years, that what they had hit on the way in which people saw Buddha."
Ms Maxwell said the sculpture, typical of the Mathuran region of northern India, is in extremely good condition.
"Buddhism had not been a major religion of the area for nearly 1500 years; many art-works, temples and sculptures like this one were preserved in sunken sands," she said.
NGA director Ron Radford said the sculpture was the oldest Buddha in Australia.
"Buddhas from Mathuran, of this size and this quality, are rarely seen outside of India," Mr Radford said.
"Images of the Buddha don't get any earlier than this."
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