The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

ROMANO-INDIAN
188 •
ART
pose that are unmistakably Indian, related to
the Begram ivories and the Gupta wallpaintings
at Ajanta. It has nothing to do with
those odd provincial mixtures of Classical,
,-
Iranian, and Indian styles that we have seen at
Bamiyan and shall find again in Turkestan.
The terracotta reliefs from Tumshuq in the
Musee Guimet are closely related to the late
Afghan sculptural style of Fondukistan, and are
marked by the same fusion of Indian and Late
Antique elements [129]. The deeply recessed
box in which the large figure group is set
reminds us of the more illusionistic style of
Gandhara relief. The drapery is a simplification
of the Gandhara Classical type with a continuation
of the characteristic neo-Attic 'swallowtail'
scarves already seen in the Gandhara
Bodhisattvas and the painting of Cave E at
Bamiyan. The individual figures have the same
softness, the relaxed ease and grace, that
128. Dandan Uiliq, wall-painting of female figure
fullness of the body and a perfectly articulated
suggestion of movement. One is tempted to
think of this as the work of an Indian craftsman,
since, unlike the examples of a more typical
Central Asian style which we shall find at Kizil,
this painting reveals a sophistication of
draughtsmanship and an elegant aliveness of
typify the Bodhisattva from Fondukistan [124].
The resemblance to this figure extends to such
minutiae as the head-dress and type of jewellery.
The faces of the Tumshuq images have a dry,
mask-like vapidity, with an endlessly repeated
smiling mouth that unmistakably reveals the
use of moulds for these portions of the figures. 4
The reliefs from Tumshuq were originally enframed
in a wide border enclosing a vine
meander pattern of an ultimately Late Antique
type. This is another instance of a transference
to Central Asia from Gandhara of a motif
universally employed in Roman architectural
decoration. This last phase of the Gandhara
style continues eastward to such sites as Kizil,
and ultimately finds its way to the earliest
centres of Chinese Buddhist sculpture at
Tun-huang and Yiin Kang.
Of all the Buddhist kingdoms of Turkestan,
by far the richest and most famous was Kucha,
on the northern trade route. This principality,
which maintained its independence until it was
overrun by China in the seventh century, was
famed at once for the beauty of its courtesans