Gandhara Sculpture

Originally Published in 1924

Among its more recent acquisitions, the Museum is fortunate in having a group of the Graeco-Buddhist sculpture found in the Northwest of India and known as Gandhara. It represents the Greek Invasion of India following Alexander’s campaign in 328-324 B. c. The art of Greece took hold of the ideas and manners of Buddhism and in the district of Gandhara in the Northwest on the banks of the Indus near Peshawar established a School of Sculpture that reveals in its surviving examples the twofold influence under which it worked. In the five examples that follow, the characteristic form and style of the school will appear.

Figure of standing Gandharan Buddha with hands broken off and round halo behind the head — Plate XX — Figure of the Buddha. Gandhara. Height 32 inches.
Museum Object Number: 29-68-1

Head of Gandharan Buddha with ushnisha, urna, and elongated earlobes. Front view — Plate XXI — Head of the Buddha. Gandhara. Height 9 inches.
Museum Object Number: 29-88-2
Image Numbers: 2220 – 2223

Plate XXII — Profile. Head of the Buddha shown in Plate XXI.
Museum Object Number: 29-88-2
Image Numbers: 2220 – 2223

Head of Gandharan Buddha with ushnisha. Front view — Plate XXIII — Head of the Buddha. Gandhara. Height 16 inches.
Museum Object Number: 29-88-1
Image Number: 2344

Head of Gandharan Buddha with ushnisha, urna, and very elongated earlobes. Front view — Plate XXIV — Head of the Buddha. Gandhara. Height 20 inches.
Image Number: 215401

Stone frieze of two squatting figures — Plate XXV — Group of Sculpture. Gandhara. Size 6 x 11 1/2 inches.
Museum Object Number: 29-68-3

Gandhara Sculpture

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