Head of a Bodhisattva

late 1st - early 2nd century

Head of a Bodhisattva, late 1st - early 2nd century. India, Mathura, Kushan Period (1st century-320). Red sandstone; overall: 50.8 x 25.4 cm (20 x 10 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Robert H. Ellsworth in memory of Christian Humann 1984.220 This monumental male head must have originally belonged to a larger-than-life Bodhisattva image. The imposing turban is of the type worn by royalty, divinities, and nobility during the Kushan period from the first through third century. The round, fleshy face, heightened by a subtle smile, retains the powerful quality of early Kushan and pre-Kushan images of nature divinities, known as yakshas.