Standing Buddha

Located along the trade routes of the so-called “Silk Road” that linked China to the Mediterranean, the Gandhāran empire thrived between the second century BC and the eighth century AD in the Valley of Peshaware, encompassing parts of present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Various invaders took control of the region over the course of history, due to its strategic location, including Alexander the Great’s army in the fourth century BC and the Kuṣāṇa (Kushan) kings of northwest India by the early first century AD. Due to this mixing of cultural influences, Gandhāran objects demonstrate a combination of styles and sources. Under the Kushan kings, Buddhist architecture began to appear in Gandhāra. Many of the works on view in this gallery, including this figure, are religious artifacts created during this period and would have been associated with stupā complexes, Buddhist shrines. In their original contexts, which are subject to ongoing research, they would have been covered with colorful pigments or gold leaf.