|
10. Head of Buddha India, Mathura Late 1st/early 2nd century A.D., Kushan Dynasty Red sandstone Height: 11 � in. (29.2 cm.) |
The fleshy, full face with deeply-set, almond-shaped eyes creased in the outer corners, and full lips upturned in a gentle smile is characteristic of kapardin images, the earliest representations of Buddha in the Mathura school. [1] Exuding a sense of serenity and calm, the present Buddha�s face is composed in a meditative expression, and his forehead is marked by a prominently incised urna. Kapardin works are identifiable not only by these distinct facial features, but also by the treatment of their plain, untextured hair, well-defined hairline, and the presence of a spiral cranial protuberance which later developed into the more commonly portrayed usnisa. [2] Although missing in the present example, the distinctive coiled bun symbolizes the presence of the Buddha�s secondary brain, and thus his supreme wisdom. Given its large scale and high quality of carving, this head would at one time have completed a central standing, such as the following example, or seated image of the Buddha. Interestingly, Kushan sculpture developed in two unique styles simultaneously. The sensual red sandstone works of the Mathura region in the south were distinctly different from the more classical schist carvings produced in the northern region of Gandhara. It was the successful melding of these two styles that was the pre-cursor to art of the Gupta Dynasty, otherwise known as the Golden Age of Indian art. Provenance: New England Private Collection 1. For comparable examples of early Kushan imagery of the Buddha, see Czuma (1985), pp. 64-71, nos. 12-15. 2. Ibid, p. 54. It is thought that the end of the kapardin-type era (circa 78 A.D.) and the beginning of the Kuniska era were marked by the apparent influence of Gandharan art in the region. This is evident in the development of wavy hair and usnisas which are first seen in Kuniska sculpture. |