Buddha Head, Gandhara Style

A Buddha Head in the Gandhara-style (200-300 AD). The Kingdom of Gandhara encompassed what is today the Northwest of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It may therefore be considered the eastern frontier of (our) ancient civilization.

A unique melting pot of Hellenistic and Indian symbology was created as a direct result of the conquests of Alexander the Great (330-325 BC) towards India. This symbiosis found its most profound artistic expression in the works of the first few centuries AD, in the so-called Gandhara style.

The skulptors of Gandhara were among the first to give the historical Shakyamuni Buddha a human shape – this had, until this point, been totally absent from buddhist iconography, and only been alluded to in the form of symbols such as the throne or the bodhi tree.

Trademarks of the Gandhara style are wavy hair, open eyes, the Greek profile and a pronounced mouth. The oval shape of the head, the curvature of the eyebrows, reminiscant of an Indian bow, the lotus-leaf-like shape of the eyes, as well as the ears, which correspond to the graphic shape of an sanskrit letter – these are from Indian origin.