Indo-Buddhist sculpture: the formation and circulation of models
The study of Indo-Buddhist sculpture examines the development of Buddhist images in the Indian subcontinent and the circulation of their models. The term encompasses works differing in date, materials and sculptural style, so the specific context must be defined in each case.
The works linked to this page offer an initial route for comparison: the Padmapani from Pala India, the example from the Swat Valley and the Nepalese bodhisattva in dharmachakra mudra belong to different settings. Subject and gesture provide starting points; proportions, clothing and ornaments reveal different sculptural solutions.
The circulation of models does not imply uniformity. As a convention moves between centres of production, it can be preserved and reinterpreted at the same time. Comparing documented works helps reconstruct these relationships and distinguish iconographic continuity, stylistic affinities and hypotheses about origin.
Chronology helps organise comparison. The sixth-century Swat Padmapani is a bronze measuring 23 centimetres; the eleventh-century Pala Padmapani is a black-schist stele 47 centimetres high. In the first, the hand brought towards the face concentrates the composition; in the second, six arms develop it laterally. A shared sacred identity coexists with different formats, materials and arrangements of attributes. These differences belong to the history of images and enrich their comparison.
The twelfth-century Nepalese Prajñāpāramitā cover extends the study to book culture. Prajñāpāramitā, White Tara and Green Tara occupy a support intended to protect the sacred text. The circulation of repertoires can thus be studied through sculpture and the arts of the book, distinguishing the transfer of subjects from transformations arising from an object’s function. Chronology, documentation and published comparisons remain fundamental when tracing relationships between centres of production.
References and comparisons
