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Head of Bodhisattva, 2nd Century A.D.

Date

Authors

Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham

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Abstract

Description

Among the Bodhisattvas depicted in Ghandaran art, both Maitreya and Avalokitesvara appear, but only Gautama himself has a two-fold form in his Bodhisattva stage: first, when he was a prince in the royal palace, he wore ornaments and royal costume, and second, after his renunciation and before his Enlightenment when he wore the monk's dress, His princely personality would have been expressed in such heads as the one in our slide, for it displays the rich adornments of royalty and a calm but firm expression of authority, Bodhisattva sculpture in Ghandara tends to be naturalistic, and to some degree the Buddha images akin to them retain this quality, Mathuran Buddhas seem to possess a loftier expression more closely related to their abstract interpretation of the Buddha image, -- London, British Museum,

Citation

Source

Type

Archives Series

Basham Collection

Date created

circa 1970s

Access Statement

License Rights

This image is provided for research purposes only and must not be reproduced without the prior permission of the Archives Program, Australian National University.

DOI

Restricted until

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