Jualian: Stucco head of Buddha

Iconographically, the art of Ghandara acepted the life story of Buddha, the Jataka scenes, male and female deities, the influx of Hellenistic gods and goddesses, as well as miscellaneous figures from Iran, Bactria and from its neighbors in the surrounding regions of India itself, In a few of our earlier examples, the image of Buddha was appearing for the first time, but we must not fall prey to the notion that the formulation of the icon was a Ghandaran innovation, Scholars have much debated this question of origin, and though there are still disputes, most feel that only the Mathura region could have fostered the original Buddhas, Only one sort of distinctive Ghandara Buddha comes about under the Kushans: an image with whiskers, either standing or seated and wearing sandals, It is decidedly of inferior expression and is hardly the credulous forbearer of the sensitive Mathuran types, Mathura, on the other hand, did lend healthy influence to Ghandara in spreading the Buddha's image, Evidence for this is readily seen in the beautiful head pictured in the slide, The exquisite, blissful state of the Buddha is poignantly radiated by the face of this work, and so 'classical are its lines it is no wonder that some art historians have championed the argument for a western origin of the type (i,e, the Apollo figures from Greece), Stylistically, the clear-cut lines and planes of the face relate this head to the contmporary school at Sarnath, another refinement center for the Buddha image, -- Taxila, Museum