Historical Gandhara, located in northwest Pakistan

 

Historical Gandhara, located in northwest Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, was first mentioned in text in the ninth century BCE.  Over the next nine hundred years the region was conquered by Alexander the Great, the Indian Maurya Dynasty, the Parthians, the Indo-Greeks, and finally the Central Asian Kushan Empire.  This complex history, with its many cultural influences, created the foundation for a region where Buddhism and Buddhist art would flourish and develop unique characteristics.

  

This exhibition explores the primary characteristics that give such deep cultural significance to the works of Gandharan, which include stone sculptures and reliefs, bronzes and gold from the Indo-Greek to Kushan periods – from the first century BC to the fifth century AD.  Includes artworks.  and culminated there with the beginning of Sasanian rule.  The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan is the first exhibition to bring works of Gandharan art from Pakistan to the United States in more than fifty years.

  The art of Gandhāra is notable for its striking stylistic qualities, many of which show complex connections with Greco-Roman and Parthian art.  The region was a crossroads where early influences from the Western classical world met Indian imagination and local practices.  At the same time, Gandhara is also important for the unique forms of Buddhist imagery that emerged there.  These include a series of relief scenes from the life of the Buddha, images of several Buddhas and sculptures of bodhisattvas.

  The legacy of Gandharan Buddhism and its remarkable art can still be found throughout Asia.  Although its heartland was located in present-day Pakistan, the Gandharan culture spread from Central Asia to the Tarim Basin.  Many of the ideas and images developed in Gandhara eventually reached China and from there to Korea and Japan.  This extraordinary history gives Gandharan art of enduring importance to scholars of East and West..!!