NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN.

PROBABLY FROM THE KUNDUZ AREA.

KUSHAN, 1ST- 2ND CENTURY AD.

H. 36 CMS, 14 INS.

A highly important and possibly unique white limestone head of the Buddha, the hair emanating in waves from a centre-point above a raised urna, the eyes half open and the mouth set with a gentle smile; with the remains of both shoulders and a mandorla still present.

The style of this large, impressive sculpture marks a transition between the classical art of sites such as Ai Khanum and the more syncretic flavour of later art from Gandhara, typified by the artists of Hadda. Almost nothing of a similar style has survived the ravages of time and the attentions of iconoclasts. A rare exception is the celebrated limestone relief of the Buddha and disciples beneath the bodhi tree, found at Fayaz-tepe, near Termez, Southern Uzbekistan: see plate 175 in Shiruku Rodo dai bunmeiten. Shiruku rodo, oashisu to sogen no michi, (The Grand Exhibition of Silk Road civilizations). 3 vols, exhibition catalogue, Nara National Museum. Nara: Nara Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, 1988 and fig. 265 in Jonathan Tucker, The Silk Road: Art and History, London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2003.

Provenance: Private English collection.

Previously sold in our 2002 exhibition ‘Glimmerings from the East’, catalogue no. 2.