This sensitive portrait of a male head likely represents a Sogdian nobleman or wealthy trader. The Sogdians, members of an Iranian civilization in Central Asia (6th century BCE–11th century CE), were the preeminent merchants managing the ancient Silk Routes into Central Asia. He has a full face, wide open eyes, deeply arched eyebrows with a prominent brow ridge, a twirled moustache, and longish wavy hair with a short topknot that lies on the side of his head.
Numerous heads of Buddhas, the laity, and foreigners such as depicted in this head were excavated at Akhnur (Aknoor), which was an important Buddhist monastic complex dating from the 1st century BCE to the 7th century CE. Located near Jammu, Akhnur was a major trade hub on the Northern Route (Uttarapath) of the Silk Routes connecting Pataliputra (Patna), Bihar to Takshashila (Taxila), Panjab, and beyond. See Moti Chandra, "Terracotta Heads from Akhnur," Bulletin of the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India 12 (1973), pp. 54-57, figs. 28-36; now in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai (72.3–72.6).
Comparable portraits of Sogdian males are in the University of Michigan Museum of Art (1950/2.13) and in Julie Bellemare and Judith A. Lerner, The Sogdians at Home: Art and Material Culture (Washington: National Museum of Asian Art), fig. 46, https://sogdians.si.edu/the-sogdians-at-home/. See also M.85.193.1.
