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Gandharan - Head of a Bodhisattva - Walters 25115
Summary
The elaborate jewelry and distinctive hairstyle identify this figure as a bodhisattva, an individual who has achieved Buddhist enlightenment but has yet to enter nirvana. The jewelry is meant to recall the life of Prince Siddhartha, who would become the earthly Buddha during the 6th century BC. Many sculptures of this type were created in the Gandharan region of present-day Pakistan. This region had fallen under the control of Alexander the Great during his conquest in the 4th century BC, and the sculptors there were greatly influenced by Greco-Roman artistic traditions.
The Gandhara civilization existed in what is now northern Pakistan and Afghanistan from the middle of the 1st millennium BCE to the beginning of the 2nd millennium CE. Although several great powers ruled this area during this time, they all shared a great reverence for Buddhism and an adoption of the Indo-Greek artistic tradition that had developed in the region following Alexander's invasions of India.
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