Typological-Stylistic Observations on Gandhāran Buddha Images

"Typological-Stylistic Observations on Early Gandhāran Buddha Images in Stone, c. 1st–3rd Centuries".
Online lecture by Dr. Corinna Wessels-Mevissen: I shall present my recently developed model of gradually evolving typological stages of the Buddha image, during late pre-Kushan and Kushan rule, in the region referred to as “Gandhāra”. Particularly, the question of the origin and date of the earliest anthropomorphic representation of the historic Buddha (lived ca. fifth-fourth centuries BCE) has been explored for a long time. However, the extremely intricate factual situation has not allowed to arrive at a widely accepted result yet. I shall explain my arguments for a particular typological-stylistic order of succession, almost exclusively based on features observed on the head portions. One of my new suggestions concerns the possible choice of traits pertaining to the Kushan rulers and their immediate predecessors themselves for designing the Gandhāran Buddha image.