(Kushan Empire 1st Century AD)

Period: Kushan Empire 1st Century AD.
Title: Fragment, Head of Vishnu.
Medium: Stucco, on a custom mahogany plinth.
Condition: This work has some losses, the condition is commensurate with age.
Provenance: The Collection was assembled in the 1950s and 60s by His Excellency Mr Aslam Malik former Pakistan High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand.
Thence is by family descent to the previous owner.
Wright Gallery Fine Art acquired part of the collection in 2018.

About: Fragment, Head of Vishnu, (Stucco). This is a fine example of early sculpture with exceptional provenance, and is from the Gandhara region and dates to approximately 1st Century BC. The Kingdom of Gandhara was located in the region of present-day northern Pakistan and Afghanistan and was part of the Kushan Empire. Buddhism was the dominant religion of the Kushan Empire and the basic repertoire of Buddhist iconography was developed during the Kushan period around the 1st Century BC.