A Bodhisattva (possibly Maitreya)
Sculpture
2nd century-4th century (made)
2nd century-4th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This head of a Bodhisattva has an oval face with damage to the chin and the left side. The hair is modelled with curly quiffs of hair round the hairline, rising in scalloped ridges up to a flattened top knot from which descends long twisting ringlets. The hair is bound with cords above the curly fringe on the forehead. This hairstyle may distinguish the figure as that of the Buddha of the Future, Maitreya. The arching eyebrows are modelled as arching edges above heavily lidded eyes which are shown as long narrow depressions between well-defined lids. The straight nose has rounded nostrils above a curving upper lip over a fuller lower one.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | A Bodhisattva (possibly Maitreya) (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Modelled lime stucco |
| Brief description | Head of an image of a Bodhisattva (possibly Maitreya), lime stucco, Swat valley, Gandhara, 2nd-4th century AD. |
| Physical description | This head of a Bodhisattva has an oval face with damage to the chin and the left side. The hair is modelled with curly quiffs of hair round the hairline, rising in scalloped ridges up to a flattened top knot from which descends long twisting ringlets. The hair is bound with cords above the curly fringe on the forehead. This hairstyle may distinguish the figure as that of the Buddha of the Future, Maitreya. The arching eyebrows are modelled as arching edges above heavily lidded eyes which are shown as long narrow depressions between well-defined lids. The straight nose has rounded nostrils above a curving upper lip over a fuller lower one. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Object history | Acquired from Evert Barger, Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Bristol and Philip Wright, V&A Museum, as part of the collection of finds excavated during their expedition to the Swat valley in 1938. This object was numbered 131 in Barger's lists. It is one of eleven stucco heads found lying in the debris surrounding the foot of Stupa B. The style of modelling and size of the head closely resembles that of IM.74-1939. This head bears similarities with one in the British Museum, OA.1972.5-15.1 ( See V. Zwalf, A cata1ogue of the Gandharan Sculpture in the British Museum, British Museum Press, 1996, 2 vols. No 595.) |
| Subject depicted | |
| Bibliographic reference | Barger, E. and Wright, P., ‘Excavations in Swat and Explorations in the Oxus Territories of Afghanistan, a detailed report of the 1938 expedition’, Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, vol. 64, Calcutta, 1941,p.26 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | IM.75-1939 |
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| Record created | June 13, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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