Description
A Gandhara gray stone head of Atlas or Hercules, larger than life size.
A rare survival of a sculptor’s a prototype to be followed by workers and students at a sculptor’s workshop.
This sculpture is rare and remarkably interesting because it illustrates the very inception and actual roots of the art we know as “Gandhara”, a term coined after the name of the area of Afghanistan where this art is normally encountered.
The Greeks arrived in this area with the expedition of Alexander to conquer all of Asia. Conquest was not the primary objective of Alexander’s quest. He had brought with his army artists, cartographers, historians and all sort of scientists and literary personalities. His aim was to transmit and establish in all Asian lands the arts and culture of Greece.
The Greeks who arrived in this area of Afghanistan, known as Gandahar today, set about to establish several cities and continue their culture as they lived it in Greece proper. They ruled over the area, minted coins, established alliances with local overlords and spread their own art and elements of their own religion and mythology. That is the reason that we encounter many characters from Greek mythology, Hercules, Atlas, Aphrodite, Bacchus and others in Gandhara Art.
At the same time, the Greeks were influenced by the culture of the land they had conquered, they adopted and expanded on many of the local philosophical ideas and importantly they came in contact with the Buddhist philosophy and nascent religion.
It is no accident that we have no portrait of Buddha until the arrival of the Greeks in the areas that Buddhism had been established and it is no coincidence that the first time that an image of the Buddha first appeared on coinage using the Greek alphabet, as it was issued by the Greek governors of that land. They took up the ideas expounded by Buddhism and they were instrumental in formulating the style that is characteristic of Gandhara Art as we know it today.
The wonderful carved stone head of Atlas (or possibly Hercules) that we have on offer here, is just such an example of direct Greek influence and even possibly the work of one of the Greek sculptors who lived in this area in the 2nd century BCE. It is also interesting to note that this head was meant as a sculptor’s model, an example by the master for his students to learn from and follow.
Size: 13 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ x 8″
