The ancient kingdom of Gandhara covered parts of what are now northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, on the ancient silk route, at the crossroads between Europe, Central Asia and India. Gandhara was home to the earliest known Buddhist texts and one of the earliest schools of Buddhist art, which included a remarkable sculptural tradition that would profoundly influence Buddhist representations throughout Asia. This tradition was characterised by a confluence of Eastern and Western classical cultures, in which ideas of figurative beauty transcended faiths and civilisations.

The Gandharan region experienced dramatic shifts in rule over more than a millennium, including being conquered by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BCE.(1) The kingdom reached its zenith between the first and fifth centuries CE after the Kushan rulers - who controlled territory across present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and much of northern India - took power. Both Mathura (in Northern India, close to Delhi) and Gandhara are thought to have begun creating figurative representations of the Buddha around the same time. However, these had some distinct differences: the Gandharan figures appeared with heavy drapery and bore wavy hair, as opposed to the bald scalps of the Mathuran works. Gandharan works are often referred to in terms of the sculpture of Hellenistic Greece or Imperial Rome. As academic Frederick M Asher attests:

The fact that Gandharan sculptures of the Kushan period appear without long antecedents make it a feasible proposition that artists looked westward for their stylistic models, if they were not of Mediterranean origin themselves.(2)

Buddha is a fine example of Gandharan sculpture, bearing the distinct influence of Greek figuration and the elements that would transform Buddhist art. The sculpture bears a serene expression with the smallest hint of a smile. The eyes are carved into characteristic almond shapes, and on the forehead, an urna represents the third eye, a symbol of divine vision. The ears are elongated, a feature that developed from the heavy earrings worn by Indian royalty; and the hair is wavy - a particularly Greco-Roman motif, defined by delicate lines that gradually transformed into the tightly curled knots now seen in much of the Buddhist art of East Asia. The topknot or usnisha similarly developed as Buddhist art spread across the continent, and the head is surrounded by the remnants of a circular nimbus, a motif that appears in the religious art of both Europe and Asia. The figure is draped in a sanghati (monastic robe) that falls in thick folds that gather around the arm and are held in the left hand. The rhythmic pattern of folds down the right side of the body, particularly pronounced in this sculpture, are the result of the Greco-Roman influence and indicate the refined skills of the sculptors of the period.

The image of the Buddha is now universally known. Venerated for its immense transcendental power, the Buddha possesses a presence that evokes peace, humility and contemplation. A timeless example of beauty, depicting a figure worshipped and revered throughout the world, this work also bears the evidence of early artistic exchange that traversed continents and survived millennia. This sculpture was in the collection of renowned archaeologist, connoisseur and collector of near-Eastern art, Hagop Kevorkian (1872-1962), until his death, and has since passed through the collections of Massachusetts’ Springfield Museums. Its acquisition was supported by Thomas Bradley, QC, to honour the memory of Henry Bartlett CMG, OBE (1916-2014), and is a fitting tribute to an extraordinary man, whose own generosity made an enormous contribution to the Gallery’s Collection, particularly of Asian art.

Tarun Nagesh, Artlines no.4, 2014, p.36.

1 See ‘Classical Connection’ in The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara, Asia Society, http://sites.asiasociety.org/gandhara, viewed 7 May 2014.
2 Frederick M Asher, ‘Imperial State and Peripheral Kingdoms, 400-150 BCE’ in 'Art of India: Prehistory to the Present', Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hong Kong, 2003, p.41.