Bodhisattva head

Description

This stucco Bodhisattva head comes from the ancient region of Gandhāra. Archaeological excavations have unearthed numerous stucco statues and fragments, revealing the importance of the use of this material in Gāndhāra. The production, of which this head is a part, covers the fervent religious reality of the early centuries of our era in this region. The artists of the period inspired vitality in their works through a very sensitive treatment of flesh and modeling, once emphasized by polychromy, which is almost invisible today on this piece but of which fragments remain in ink at the level of the eyelids, in their hollows as well as under the hair.

A bodhisattva is represented here, his face serene, his eyes half-closed, his regular features showing a real concern for naturalism. His fleshy lips, with deep corners and his straight nose are all elements that illustrate the influence of Hellenistic art, which had a great posterity in the Gāndhāra. The hair is composed of elegant curls falling gracefully down the bodhisattva’s neck. The top of his head is adorned with a headband, the details of which are somewhat blurred but whose refinement we can imagine in the image of the rest of the sculpture. Similarly, his left earlobe is distended and adorned with a heavy pendant, another element that anchors this representation in its context of creation while participating in the humanization of this representation.

Provenance : French private collection.