This Buddha torso sculpted in pink sandstone, as was characteristic in the Mathura region, illustrates the style practiced in workshops during the Gupta period.
In India, the Gupta style marked the classic and post-classic era from the 4th to the 8th century AD. This period, regarded as the "golden age" of Indian civllisation, saw an unprecedented development of all forms of art. As for sculpture, two schools with two distinctive styles gained leading roles thanks to the exceptional quality of their work : Mathura and Samath.
This now headless effigy emphasises a sensitive modelling reminiscent of the art of Mathura. It is characterised by silhouettes with broad shoulders and narrow hips, powerful arms and long,slender legs appearing under the garment. What’s more, this ethereal looking body with flexible muscles is clad in a thin and transparent looking monastic robe (uttarasanga), with a clinging drape that reveals the undergarment (antarasanga). The missing right hand likely originally made the abhaya mudra, the gesture of fearlessness.The head of Buddha was once surrounded by a circular aureola, a fragment of which -decorated with floral motifs and pearls against a lush foliage backdrop- still can be seen on the upper left shoulder. The purity of the forms, the harmony of the proportions, the quality of the execution of this torso and the skillfulness of the treatment of the robe and aureola make this artwork an archetype of Buddhist sculpture, which travelled through centuries from Southeast Asia to China and Japan.
