Circa 300-400 AD This beautifully finely executed carved schist head is a superb example of Gandharan sculpture. Gandharan sculpture’s Greco-Roman legacy and its evolution towards abstraction have seamlessly juxtaposed her with naturalistic curves producing the nasal sidewall, nostrils, and chin meeting crisp ridges, defining the lips, philtrum, eyelids, eyebrows. Long wavy stylised hair. This head exhibits several of the characteristic features by which one could recognise a great man: these marks. Buddha is depicted with an ‘ushnisha‘: a protuberance on the top of the head, which may have originated in the bun hairstyle once worn by Nepalese nobility. Although the Buddha was born into a noble family, the ushnisha is generally considered a sign of the Buddha’s wisdom and enlightenment. His long and stylised earlobes recall the heavy earrings that the Buddha wore before he renounced his wealth. The circle between the eyes is called an ‘urna’: an identifying mark of the Buddha to symbolise his divine status and ability to see beyond the mundane realm. Size: L:510mm / W:180mm ; 13kg. Provenance: Property of a London Ancient Art gallery; formerly with H.G. private UK collection; acquired in Japan before 2003; previously in a Japanese collection since the 1960s.