2-730-863 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Head of Buddha, 400s. 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.