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

By the early centuries AD, Buddhism had spread from Gandhara and northwest India to the Central Asian Silk Road kingdoms, whose flourishing monasteries continued to support artistic styles partly influenced by India. Later destroyed by Muslim invaders, these ancient cultural centres lay abandoned to the desert until their rediscovery a century ago.

Ruins of the Rawak Stupa, Khotan, Central Asia, c. AD 300 -400.   Shankaracharya temple at Srinagar, Kashmir, AD 500 – 600 with later additions.

Distinctive local styles of Buddhist and Hindu sculpture also developed in the secluded mountain valleys of Kashmir and Swat. They show a growing fusion between the late Gandhara tradition, with its linear modelled drapery, and the graceful forms and rounded volumes of the north Indian Gupta aesthetic. These powerful and expressive sculptural styles would continue in the region for several centuries after (India 600-1900 gallery).

Central Asia

Head of an attendant figure (EA1990.1243)

Fragmentary relief of a bodhisattva (EAX.81)   Figure of a musician carrying a water-skin (EA1958.116)

Terracotta head of a monkey (EAX.38)   Terracotta figure of monkeys embracing (EAX.12)   Terracotta figure of a monkey (EAX.21)

Terracotta figure of a bird (EAX.1)   Terracotta figure of a horse and rider (EAX.41)

Lion mask from a vase (EAX.68)   Lion mask from a vase (EAX.67)   Lion mask from a vase (EAX.66)

Kashmir and Swat Valley

Terracotta tile with two ascetic figures (EA1980.65)   Fragment of a tile with ducks (EAX.2043)   Box lid depicting a kinnara couple (EA2013.38)

Standing figure of Padmapani (EA1993.371)   Seated figure of the Buddha (EA1995.115)  

Figure of the war god Skanda (EA2013.64)   Head of a warrior (EAOS.50.a)