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).
Publications online: 143 objects
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Head of a Jina
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Literature notes
The absence of an uṣṇiṣa [see EAOS. 26] immediately distinguishes this head as having belonged to a statue of a Jina one of the saviours of the Jain religion [see EAOS.108], rather than the Buddha. The style and the nature of the stone indicate that Mathura or an associated site was the source of this sculpture, and indeed Mathura at this period produced greater numbers of Jina images than Buddhas. The heavy raised unbroken line indicating the eyebrows, the eyes with their peculiar treatment of the upper lids and the pouting lips all indicate a third or fourth century date, in the late Kuṣāṇa period. A smile is just beginning to steal across the lower part of the face, just as the eyes are becoming almond-shaped, precursors of the “spiritual” expression of Gupta Buddhas and Jinas. This and numberless other such figures, often quite crude in execution, may thus be considered in a sense transition pieces. -
Description
Early figures of Jinas or Tirthankaras (Jain saviour figures) resemble Buddha images in some respects, but lack the ushnisha or topknot on the head.
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Details
- Associated place
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Asia › India › north India › Uttar Pradesh › Mathura district › Mathura (place of creation)
- Date
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2nd half of the 3rd century - 1st half of the 4th century AD
Kushan Period (AD 50 - 600)
Gupta Period (AD 320 - 600)
- Material and technique
- sandstone
- Dimensions
- 17 x 15 x 12 cm max. (height x width x depth)
- Material index
- Technique index
- Object type index
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Presented by Mrs Isa Cohn, in memory of Dr William Cohn, 1963.
- Accession no.
- EA1963.27
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Further reading
Harle, J. C., and Andrew Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1987), no. 12 on p. 11, pp. 10 & 49, illus. p. 11
Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum, 2 April-16 July 1995, Buddha in Indien: Die frühindische Skulptur von König Asoka bis zur Guptazeit, Deborah E. Klimburg-Salter, ed. (Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum and Milan: Skira, 1995), no. 81 on p. 133, illus. p. 132 fig. 81
Ahuja, Naman, ‘Early Indian Art at the Ashmolean Museum - Catalogue in progress’, 2016, no. 106
Location
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Ground floor | Room 12 | India to 600
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Ground floor | Room 12 | India to 600
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Publications online
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Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum
The absence of an uṣṇiṣa [see EAOS. 26] immediately distinguishes this head as having belonged to a statue of a Jina one of the saviours of the Jain religion [see EAOS.108], rather than the Buddha. The style and the nature of the stone indicate that Mathura or an associated site was the source of this sculpture, and indeed Mathura at this period produced greater numbers of Jina images than Buddhas. The heavy raised unbroken line indicating the eyebrows, the eyes with their peculiar treatment of the upper lids and the pouting lips all indicate a third or fourth century date, in the late Kuṣāṇa period. A smile is just beginning to steal across the lower part of the face, just as the eyes are becoming almond-shaped, precursors of the “spiritual” expression of Gupta Buddhas and Jinas. This and numberless other such figures, often quite crude in execution, may thus be considered in a sense transition pieces.
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