Gandharan Buddhist stucco head fragment

M174

£225.00

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A moulded and carved stucco head fragment from a Buddhist figure wearing a top-knot.

The Gandharan civilisation decorated their surroundings with elaborate friezes and monuments depicting scenes from Buddhist teachings as well as other subjects. The art of the region often blended Oriental and Classical styles due to Alexander the Great’s conquest and Hellenic influence from the 4th Century BC onwards.

Culture
Central Asia, Gandhara, 3rd to 5th Century AD

Size
7.6 x 5.2 cms, 14.1 cms including stand

Condition
Fragment as shown, mounted on a clear perspex display stand

Provenance
Ex. estate of Professor Victor Chan (1947-2020), Alberta, Canada and thence by inheritance. Acquired in London before 1990.

Victor Chan taught art history at the University of Alberta, retiring as Professor Emeritus in 2000. Professor Chan purchased the majority of his collection from smaller London dealerships including Tetragon, George Lambor, M. Ayres and Old Drury during visits to the UK during the early 1980’s.

Much Gandharan art was damaged, looted and destroyed through war and religious iconoclasm during the past thirty years, culminating in the destruction of the famed Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001. The acquisition of this fragment pre-dates this deeply troubled period.

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