Digital Rare Book:
Essays on Gautama Buddha
Edited by N.N.Law
Published by The Indian Historical Quarterly - 1956

Read Book Online:

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Image:
Head of Buddha

5th–6th century
Afghanistan (probably Hadda)
Stucco with traces of paint

The well-preserved surface and traces of paint provide an idea of what this head looked like when it was being used in worship. The abstracted treatment of the eyes and the intersecting plains defining forehead, eyebrows, and nose are stylistic features shared with imagery produced in north India during the Gupta period. The fact that this north Indian way of presenting the Buddha had penetrated into Afghanistan suggests a shared Buddhist tradition.

Text and image credit:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art