- Title
- Head of Buddha Shakyamuni
- Date Made
- circa 400-415
- Medium
- Earthenware
- Dimensions
- 8 x 5 x 5 1/2 in. (20.32 x 12.7 x 13.97 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.79.8
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Devni Mori is in northern Gujarat near Shamlaji. Now submerged in the Meswo reservoir, the Buddhist site consisted of a brick stupa (funerary monument) and a monastery (vihara). The core of the stupa has been dated to circa 375-400. Slightly later earthenware Buddha images attributed to circa 400-415 were recovered during an excavation in 1960-1963. Presumably, they were once installed on the exterior walls of platform II of the stupa for worship by devotees during their ritual circumambulation of the stupa. Based on comparisons to complete Buddha images now housed in the Baroda Museum & Picture Gallery, the Buddhas were seated on a lotus base in the meditation posture (padma asana) and their hands were held in the gesture of meditation (dhyana mudra). They wore a pleated robe over both shoulders. The Buddha heads may have been cast in a separate mold and then attached to their bodies.
This Buddha head displays several of the standard iconographic features. It has snail-curl hair, the cranial protuberance (ushnisha) emblematic of his omniscience, elongated earlobes symbolizing his renunciation of the material world, and heavily-lidded pensive eyes conveying his compassion for all sentient beings. There is no sacred forehead marking (urna).
- Selected Bibliography
- Little, Stephen, and Tushara Bindu Gude. Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art across Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2025.
