Gandhara region, probably Taxila
Late fourth to fifth century CE
Terra cotta; 9.2 x 8.3 x 7.0 cm
(3-5/8 x 3-1/4 x 2-3/4 in.)
Gift of Dr. W. P. Jacocks, 58.2.19

This terra cotta head likely comes from Taxila, at the southeastern end of the Gandhara region.1 The ancient city of Taxila prospered on the crossroads of the burgeoning trade routes between Europe and South Asia.2 Buddhist art flourished at Taxila during the stability of the Kushan empire and experienced a resurgence following the Sassanid invasion that lasted until the mid-fifth century CE (Fig. 29). The site’s role as a portal between regions and the successive changes of ruling ethnic groups perhaps explain the rich intermingling of artistic styles discernible in this head.3

The finely arched eyebrows and delicate nose profile of the Ackland’s Terra Cotta Head are typical of the subtle Gandharan modeling of faces, bodies, coiffure, and drapery. Greco-Roman elements can be discerned in the modeling of hair and the sharp nose profile. The cheeks and chin resemble those of Parthian figures from Susa, Iran, and Dalverzin, Uzbekistan.4 Parthian and Uzbek features are also manifested in the headband.5 Unlike most other Gandharan figures, whose headbands are comprised of three straps from the forehead to the back on each side, this headband has one continuous band surrounding the head with two straps on each side. While the use of the straps is not unusual in Gandharan sculpture, the flat headband is uncommon.6 The combination of these features suggests the presence of multi-cultural groups and artistic workshops in Taxila.

The headband ornamented with two large pieces of jewelry suggests that this small head probably belonged to the body of a bodhisattva. It is molded in high relief, and the frontality suggests that it was probably not part of a narrative band depicting the Buddha’s life, as frontal attendant figures are rare in these scenes. His slightly tilted neck, however, suggests that the bodhisattva belonged to a group with which he interacted. It likely belonged in an image shrine or was attached to a stupa in a sacred complex (for architectural context, see Figs. 2, 29).

Many similar small terra cotta and stucco figures were found at the monasteries and stupas at Jaulian and Mohra Moradu.7 According to Sir John Marshall, who excavated these sites, the extensive use of terra cotta and stucco figures occurred in the late stage of Buddhist artistic production in Taxila during the fourth and fifth centuries.8 At Jaulian in particular, the stupa courts and chapels accommodated many small terra cotta figures at this time.9 The Ackland head was most likely produced during this period of prodigious terra cotta production. MN

1 For comparison, see Head of Buddha with Stylized Hair from Hadda in Madeleine Hallade, Gandharan Art of North India and the Graeco-Buddhist Tradition in India, Persia, and Central Asia (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1968), plate 107; Head of Bodhisattva from Karachi in Harald Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan (New York: Pantheon Books, 1957), plate 557; Head of the Buddha (Jaulian, Taxila) in ibid., plate 532; Head of the Buddha in ibid., plate 533; Head of the Buddha (Dharmarajika Stupa, Taxila) in ibid., plate 538; Attendant (Mohra Moradu, Taxila) illustrated in Sir John Marshall, Taxila, 3 vols. (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1951), plate 155c.
2 For Taxila excavation reports, see Marshall, Excavations at Taxila, the Stupas and Monasteries at Jaulian, vol. 7, Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India (Calcutta, India: 1921); idem, Taxila; idem, A Guide to Taxila, the 4th edition (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1960).
3 Marshall divided this period into two stages: the Gandhara School of the early period and the Indo-Afghan School of the late period. See Taxila, 75. W. Zwalf divided Gandharan sculpture into four stages: early work, mature work, development of the mature work, and late and post-Gandhara work. See his exhibition catalogue, A Catalogue of the Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum (London: British Museum Press, 1996), vol. 1, 69–76. See also Lolita Nehru, Origins of the Gandharan Style: A Study of Contributory Influences (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989), and Raymond Allchin et al, Gandharan Art in Context: East-West Exchanges at the Crossroads of Asia (New Delhi: Regency Publications, 1997).
4 See Malcolm A. R. Colledge, Parthian Art (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1977), plate 9c. Colledge dates this figure to ca. 100 BCE to 100 CE. See Nehru, plate 145. See Galina Anatol’evna Pugachenkova et al, Antiquities of Southern Uzbekistan (Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, and Tokyo: The Khamza Fine Arts Research Centre, Ministry of Culture of Uzbek SSR and Soka University, 1991), fig. 113. The head is dated between the first and second century CE.
5 See Colledge, plate 8c, dated to the first or second century CE, and Nehru, plate 40.
6 The flat headband is displayed by a Parthian figure from Shami, Iran, and a relief from Khaltchayan, Uzbekistan.
7 See attendant figures (stucco) at Mohra Moradu illustrated in Marshall, Taxila, plates 137–39, plate 152b, and 155c.
8 Marshall dated these figures by analyzing the consecutive masonry techniques. See Marshall, Taxila, 358-87. Ahmad Hasan Dani agreed with Marshall on this dating in his The Historic City of Taxila (Paris and Tokyo: Unesco and Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, 1986), 148. Zwalf also agreed in general, but pointed out the dating problem due to our insufficient knowledge about architectural development. See Zwalf, 69. Saifur Rahman Dar also pointed out the problems of Marshall’s methods of excavation and dating. See Dar, “Dating the Monuments of Taxila,” in Urban Form and Meaning in South Asia: The Shaping of Cities from Prehistoric to Pre-colonial Times (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1993), 103–22.
9 Dani, 148.