Head of Buddha

AD 400s

Head of Buddha, AD 400s. Northern India, Mathura, Gupta Period (320-647). Sandstone; overall: 30.6 x 16.6 cm (12 1/16 x 6 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1963.504 During the 5th century, sculptors in the city of Mathura achieved a balance between fleshy volumes and idealized linear features. The lines of the brows arch with tension and alertness, though the lids are half closed. His hair is rendered in short curls all over the head and the cranial protuberance, which during this period came to be interpreted as a mark of one who has reached enlightenment, his state of awareness having surpassed the boundaries of an ordinary human being.