Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum

A catalogue of the Ashmolean’s collection of Indian art by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield (published Oxford, 1987).

Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield

Publications online: 143 objects

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Head of a warrior

  • Literature notes

    These detached heads [EAOS.50 & EAOS.50.a] almost certainly belonged to figures adorning a stūpa, in the same way as the bases of stūpas in Gandhara, where terracotta was only rarely used, were often peopled with statues in stucco [EA1970.154 and EA1958.2]. In style, with their sensitive and impressionist modelling, they are indeed very close to the late Gandhara stuccos from Haḍḍa. The relatively small numbers of early Kashmir terracottas, practically all from Akhnur, also show, along with a rather rococo sweetness, the same sharpness of characterisation which led André Malraux to see a Gothic quality in the Haḍḍa sculptures. The Ashmolean examples are particularly good examples of this feature: the rendering of apparent neurosis in the face of the man wearing a helmet, perhaps one of the soldiers in the army of Māra who sought to prevent the Buddha from achieving illumination at Bodhgaya, and of self-indulgent languor in the moustachioed head.
  • Description

    Close in style to late Gandhara stucco heads, this head probably belonged to the figure of a warrior in the army of Mara, who attempted to prevent the Buddha’s Enlightenment.

  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaIndianorth-west IndiaJammu and KashmirJammu district Akhnur (place of creation)
    Date
    4th century AD (AD 301 - 400)
    Gupta Period (AD 320 - 600)
    Material and technique
    terracotta
    Dimensions
    12.7 x 8 x 11 cm max. (height x width x depth)
    with mount 18 x 8 x 11 cm max. (height x width x depth)
    Material index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased, 1941.
    Accession no.
    EAOS.50.a
  • Further reading

    Harle, J. C., and Andrew Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1987), no. 28 on pp. 21-22, p. 6, illus. p. 22

    Fabri, Charles, ‘Akhnur Terracottas’, Marg: Heritage of Kashmir, 8/2, (1955), fig.9B

    Ahuja, Naman, ‘Early Indian Art at the Ashmolean Museum - Catalogue in progress’, 2016, no. 63.2

Location

    • Ground floor | Room 12 | India to 600

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield

    Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum

    These detached heads [EAOS.50 & EAOS.50.a] almost certainly belonged to figures adorning a stūpa, in the same way as the bases of stūpas in Gandhara, where terracotta was only rarely used, were often peopled with statues in stucco [EA1970.154 and EA1958.2]. In style, with their sensitive and impressionist modelling, they are indeed very close to the late Gandhara stuccos from Haḍḍa. The relatively small numbers of early Kashmir terracottas, practically all from Akhnur, also show, along with a rather rococo sweetness, the same sharpness of characterisation which led André Malraux to see a Gothic quality in the Haḍḍa sculptures. The Ashmolean examples are particularly good examples of this feature: the rendering of apparent neurosis in the face of the man wearing a helmet, perhaps one of the soldiers in the army of Māra who sought to prevent the Buddha from achieving illumination at Bodhgaya, and of self-indulgent languor in the moustachioed head.
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