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HOME :
Asian Art :
Gandharan Artefacts : Gandharan Stucco Head
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Gandharan Stucco Head - AM.0220
Origin: Central Asia
Circa: 100
AD
to 400
AD
Dimensions:
5.5" (14.0cm) high
Collection: Asian Art
£5,000.00
Location: Great Britain
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| Description |
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The ancient civilization of Gandhara was located
in the region encompassing modern
northeastern Afghanistan and northwestern
Pakistan. Situated at a confluence of trading
paths along the Silk Route, the area was flooded
in diverse cultural influences ranging from
Greece to China. Gandhara flourished under the
Kushan Dynasty and their great king, Kanishka,
who is traditionally given credit for spreading the
philosophies of Buddhism throughout central
Asia and into China. This period is viewed as the
most important era in the history of Buddhism.
After the conquests of Alexander the Great, the
creation of Greco-Bactrian kingdoms, and the
general Hellenization of the subcontinent,
Western aesthetics became prominent. Greek
influence began permeating into Gandhara. Soon
sculptors based the images of the Buddha on
Greco-Roman models, depicting Him as a stocky
and youthful Apollo, complete with stretched
earlobes and loose monastic robes similar to a
Roman toga. The extraordinary artistic creations
of Gandhara reveal link between the different
worlds of the East and West.
Despite surviving in fragmentary form, this
stucco head still impresses us with its calm and
dignified expression. The mouth and nose have
been carved naturalistically but the eyes are
highly stylised. This is typical of Gandharan
images of the Buddha which this head most likely
represents.
- (AM.0220)
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