Head of Buddha
Posso vê-la?
Sim, exposta agora
Onde está «Head of Buddha» hoje? Harvard Art Museums, Gallery 2460, floor 2, East Arcade, Cambridge. Sim, exposta agora. Verificado 29 de setembro de 2026.
Exposta ao público.
- Verificado
- Neste estado desde
- Fonte
- O museu
Sobre a escultura
This magnificently carved head bears all the physical attributes of a Buddha: snail-shell curls representing closely shorn hair of a tonsured man; a cranial protuber-ance (ushnisha) rising from the top of the head, indicating his vast wisdom; a circular dot (urna) representing a tuft of hair between his brows; and earlobes elongated by heavy earrings, alluding to his origins as a prince in Lumbini, present-day Nepal. The elegantly arched brows, straight nose, and full lips evoke the influential art of the Gupta Empire, which ruled a large portion of the Indian subcontinent from the fourth to sixth centuries.
Ler mais
The figure’s broad forehead, rounded face, delicate smile, and smooth facial contours chiseled from a porous stone recall the Buddha sculptures at Borobudur—a monumental esoteric Buddhist temple complex in central Java that once held 504 Buddha statues. More than 300 are now damaged; many of the statues are missing heads, like this one collected in the 1930s. A rectangular appendage that extends from the back of the head and neck suggests this work came from an architectural context, like the niches on the lower levels of the structure, rather than from the freestanding Buddhas in the stupas on the upper levels.
Harvard Art Museums
Pormenores
- Número de inventário
- 2015.17
No catálogo
Fontes
- Harvard Art Museums
- Imagem: Harvard Art Museums — © President and Fellows of Harvard College
