Head of Bodhisattva

Photo by Jules Barthoux ©GrandPalaisRmn - Guimet Museum
Location
Tapa-i Kafarihā
Description
The face of this Bodhisattva, which is very damaged, is idealized: half-closed eyelids, sketchy smile and round face. The ūrṇā has certainly been torn off. The turban, treated in hairnets, is enclosed by a band of imitation square beads and flowers. The earlobes, now broken, were distended. In the Guimet Museum, this head is restored on a body. Shirtless, with his left hand on his hip, he wears an antaravāsaka turned in at the waist, the fluid and supple folds of which emphasise the anatomy and the sway of the body, worn on the knee.
Observations
According to the "Catalogue of the National Museum of Afghanistan" by F. Tissot, this head was kept in Kabul (K.p. Ha. 1088. 155). Investigations are to be carried out.
1928 / today


Excavation photograph by Jules Barthoux (1928) juxtaposed with a recent photograph by Alexandra Vanleene.
Characteristics
Technique
Modelling
Material
Stucco
Object type
Figure
Site
Tapa-i Kafarihā
Conservation location
Guimet Museum
Museum inventory No.
MG 17434
Traces of polychromy
No
Restoration
No restoration
Technique
Modelling
Material
Stucco
Object type
Figure
Site
Tapa-i Kafarihā
Conservation location
Guimet Museum
Museum inventory No.
MG 17434
Traces of polychromy
No
Restoration
No restoration
Bibliographic References
Part of the themed route