Gandhara art

Gandhara art

The Buddha preaching, relief from Gandhara, schist, c. 2nd century AD; in the Prince of Wales …

(credit: P. Chandra)

Style of Buddhist art that developed in what is now northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan from the 1st to the 7th century AD. It was contemporaneous with Mathura art. The Gandhara region had earlier been a site of much Buddhist missionary activity, and the Kushan rulers maintained contact with Rome; the Gandhara school incorporated motifs and techniques from Classical Roman art (e.g., vine scrolls, cherubs with garlands, tritons, centaurs), but the iconography was based on the interpretation of Buddhist legends. Sculptural materials included green phyllite, gray-blue mica, and stucco; sculptures were originally painted and gilded. See also Central Asian arts; Kushan art.