Head of Gandhara, II-III centuries.

Head of Gandhara, II-III centuries.
Buddha.
Stucco.
Provenance: before the 1990s, in the Belgian collection A.B. (Brussels). Since then in a private collection.
Measurements: 21 cm;; 33 cm (with pedestal)

Head of Buddha carved in stucco. It belongs to the Gandhara culture, and is characterized by the supreme serenity and spirituality exhaled by his face. We observe several lakshana or symbolic signs specific to the plastic representation of buddhas and bodhisattvas: elongated earlobes, a symbol of greatness, nobility and wisdom; eyelids rolled up, a symbol of spiritual concentration and also of purity, due to their resemblance to the petals of the lotus; a sketched smile, symbolizing the balance and serenity of a perfect being; the third eye on the forehead, which symbolizes the vision of the divine world; the hair gathered in a bun, which evokes a Buddhist temple, although in this example the carver shows naturalistic intention in the expression of the curled locks.

The historical region of Gandhara, which corresponds to the southeast of present-day Afghanistan, central and northern Pakistan, and northwest India, was a satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire from the sixth century BC, conquered by Alexander the Great, remaining Hellenistic with the Greco-Hindu rulers, until it was annexed to the Kushana Empire (1st - 3rd centuries AD). The Kushans adopted many elements of Hellenistic culture, adapting the Greek alphabet, etc. to their language. It is because of these historical circumstances that Greco-Buddhist art developed in Gandhara, a syncretism between Greek culture and Buddhism.