Frieze fragment depicting putti holding up a garland
Details
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Title
Frieze fragment depicting putti holding up a garland
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Associated place
Gandhara (place of creation) -
Date
2nd - 3rd century AD (AD 101 - 300) -
Material and technique
grey schist
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Material index
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Technique index
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Object type
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Dimensions
12.2 x 51.5 x 6.5 cm (height x width x depth) -
No. of items
1
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Credit line
Presented by Reverend J. C. Murray-Aynsley, 1911.
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Museum location
Museum department
Eastern Art
Accession no.
EAOS.4
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Catalogue text
To what extent Graeco-Roman motifs and architectural ornaments were borrowed in Gandhara is well illustrated by this frieze of putti holding up a garland, the principal decoration of hundreds of Roman sarcophagi. Close inspection will show that the headdress (turbans) of the putti and their heavy anklets are of Indian inspiration, as well as the flower that takes the place of the winged putto between the bird-figures themselves a reversion to western classical types, more eagle than haṃsa (goose).
In: Harle, J. C., and Andrew Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1987)
Further reading
Harle, J. C., and Andrew Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1987), no. 20 on p. 16, illus. p. 16
Jongeward, David, Buddhist Art of Gandhara in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2019), no. 52 on p. 81
Reference URL
