Galerie Golconda

Face of Buddha, partly damaged but in which a beautiful expression of gentleness and serenity remains. Fine-grain dark gray schist typical to the valleys of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The perfectly symmetrical face has Indo-European features, two large eyes without eyelids, finely drawn eyebrows that meet to form the bridge of the straight but slightly flattened nose. Full lips give a certain sensuality to the face. The sign of the Unisha is placed in the middle of the forehead. The hair, with clearly drawn strands typical of the Greek influence, ends in the chignon of wisdom set high on the head and which is called the krobylos. Gandhâran art, born on Indian soil and in the service of the Buddhist religion, uses iconographic elements drawn from the religious repertory and artfully combines them with the sculpting techniques and proportional esthetics introduced by the Greek soldiers from Macedonia then from Bactria, who had followed Alexander the Great. Works in bas-relief, of gray schist coming from the valleys of Afghanistan and Pakistan, are one of the characteristics.