Unknown
Indian (active North India, Madhya Pradesh, Panna district)
Female Bust, 5th c. CE, or 6th, Gupta period
sandstone
16 x 15 x 9 in.
SBMA, Gift of Mark and Iuliana Phillips
2002.85.6
RESEARCH PAPER
The Indian gallery of the Asian collection features a recent quite eye-catching addition to the museum’s holdings, a female bust in the red sandstone characteristic of the Mathura region in northern India dated to the 5th-6th centuries CE which historically is the mid to late period of the Gupta dynasty.
Historical, geographical and cultural context:
The dates of the Gupta Empire are not verifiable but it is traditionally given the dates 300-550 CE although the effective political life of the dynasty is limited to about 150 years between 320-467 CE when peace and prosperity prevailed over a vast region in northern India stretching from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea. For the first time in six centuries and the last until modern times, all of northern India acknowledged a single ruler and an Indian one at that. Regrettably little is known about the individual Gupta emperors, their origins or their personal histories. Interestingly, the word “gupta” means, “hidden”, and indeed in the context of ancient Indian history, the Guptas’ origins are obscure. It was, however, under the sponsorship of the Gupta conquerors that Hinduism assumed ascendancy over Buddhism in India. The decline of the imperial dynasty was hastened both by invasions of the Huns in the 5th century and confusion over the succession to the throne in the 6th century.
From a cultural perspective, however, the impact of Gupta notions of art was to last much longer. The aesthetic canons that came to dominate all the arts of later India were codified during the Gupta era. This discussion is limited to sculptural issues.
From ancient times, sculpture has formed an integral and very important part of Indian architecture and was intended for the edification of pilgrims as well as decoration. Image worship initiated in earlier centuries started to gain momentum. The human figure became the main subject matter for Gupta period sculptors. Temple sculptures, it must be noted, were not necessarily religious; many drew on secular subject matters and decorative motifs, particularly when they were located on the exterior of the temple. Unfortunately, little of the art from this period has survived so SBMA is fortunate indeed to have this piece. The geographical provenance of the SBMA piece is unknown, however, as is its placement on its architectural support.
A Gupta sculpture is nearly always carved in relation to a ground and thus is strictly speaking a relief even if it is free standing. The SBMA sculpture shows clear evidence of having been attached at the back of the head with a freestanding body below. From a technical standpoint, the Indian carver used only points & flat chisels in carving a piece, never a claw, bull-nose or gouge. Indian sculptures were nearly always intended to be finished off with a finely modeled layer of lime-plaster which was itself painted; there is no evidence of such a painted plaster layer in this piece.
Who was the Gupta sculptor? He was probably a member of a craftsman’s guild. The transfer of knowledge in the sculptural tradition in India was hereditary and a sculptor would have worked in his father’s workshop. The actual work technique was taught during the day while in the evenings theoretical knowledge was imparted through the study of the sacred texts. To make possible the externalization of the divine in a sculpture, it was of great importance that the artist maintain purity of the inner being, have highly developed moral and spiritual values, be compassionate and without envy or anger or worries, always content and not ambitious.
To the Indian sculptor the purpose of a statue was to serve as an aid to meditation and its position, expression, gestures and even its costume had a very precise meaning and were strictly codified since the sculptor was making not a work of art but a devotional object. No artist had the courage or the social sanction to alter the form of any deity according to his own fancy. He was required to follow the canon established in the sacred texts. One of the most significant aspects of the sculptural tradition is that objects were never directly copied from nature. Furthermore, the sacred texts also state that it is not appropriate to worship images fashioned in the proportions of a human body because the human body is subject to change and decay in time. But, the image produced by the application of the grammar set out in the sacred texts is eternal, and hence, untouched by time. The aesthetic canon which the sculptor was bound to respect defined the proportions and rhythms of a sculpture, the physical resemblances of its components to natural objects as well as the meaning of gestures, poses, costumes, symbols and motifs. Idiosyncrasy was to be avoided. There were, of course, some regional variations in style and a certain amount of evolution but the guiding concepts of beauty were quite consistent over hundreds of years.
Canon:
How does the Gupta canon apply to the SBMA bust? First, an Indian sculptor, when he was forming something that was recognizably part of a human body, like a leg, hand, lip or eye, was to make it the shape of some other thing (in Nature), thereby giving it metaphorical value. Artists of the Gupta period did not follow the canons of the Greeks in which the proportions of a figure are determined by geometrical ratios. The Gupta ideal, on the contrary, was to recreate the natural flow of life that manifests itself in Nature. This they did with curved leafy lines since nowhere in Nature do we meet with lines that are straight. Human beauty is but an echo of Nature. Thus, the artist took the oval shape of a hen’s egg for the shape of the face. The ideal shape of the brows was characterized by the contours of the delicate nim leaf. The eyes were worked out in various shapes depending upon the expression suggested so they might assume the shape of the eyes of a deer, the belly of a fish or the petal or bud of the blue lotus flower. The spiral movement of a conch shell was adopted for the formation of the neck; the shape of the chin followed the look of a mango seed; the nose resembled the beak of a parrot, while the pendant of the upper arm conformed to the shape of an elephant’s trunk. Unfortunately, the rest of the body is lacking in the SBMA Gupta figure but a look at the Balarama allows us to visualize some of the rest of the canon of beauty. The forearm followed the formation of a young plantain tree, the male waist imitated a lion’s waist while for a woman’s waist, the middle part of a kettledrum was preferred. The shape of the kneecap followed the outer contour of a crab while for the shape of a calf, the form of a fish was taken as an ideal. When showing the two feet projecting in front jointly...the artist imitated a full-blown lotus with petals. (1)
Gods and humans were always represented as half nude as probably was the SBMA bust. Furthermore, gods and goddesses were generally conceived of as young, occasionally as a child but never as an old or infirm person. Goddesses were always described as sixteen years old and invariably have elevated or high breasts (2). The ideal woman in ancient India was said to be endowed with thick thighs and broad hips, balanced by a slender waist and heavy breasts, the latter being manifestly present in the Gupta bust although no mention is made in the references I consulted of the forms in Nature that serve as the model for these luscious breasts. Note that the message communicated by the heavy breasts was not one of eroticism but rather fecundity. My guess that was supported by Dr. Rochelle Kessler of LACMA is that the SBMA bust might represent a minor goddess or simply a decorative figure in a grouping.
Secondly, in the canon of Indian art, the posture and gestures, sadly lacking in our figure, were equally constrained, as were the clothing, accessories and hairstyle. Any ornaments or decorations, note the earrings, necklace and armband of the SBMA bust, were to follow the lines and curves of the body, indicate the form clearly, and be in proportion with its contours. Earrings could be of two types: either a button or a large ring; the SBMA bust has a large ring. The necklace of the SBMA bust consists of a single string of beads of graduated sizes. There were various options for the arm ornament; the one we see in the SBMA bust is a band with a somewhat elaborate filigree type of decoration. As for hairstyle, in the Gupta period, the simple braids of the earlier Kushan period gave way to sometimes quite complicated arrangements. The distinctive ringlets of the SBMA bust are of southern or Deccani origin. (3) Tiaras or flowers were often worn in the hair; the SBMA bust is graced by a simple coronet with a triangular motif.
Very few temples and sculptures of the Gupta period are firmly dated, and the art historian is therefore dependent upon stylistic development and variation to determine sequence. Early Gupta phase (entire 4th century) sculptures are characterized by a heaviness and stolidity in figure. The eyes are fully opened and express emotional attachment. Classical Gupta (early 5th century) sculptures are distinguished by more sensitive modeling and half closed eyes as if the figure portrayed had withdrawn completely from the visible world through deep meditative concentration to taste the delight of the ultimate bliss and joy. It is tempting to place the SBMA bust in this period on the basis of its downcast eyes but it is further noted that classical period artists appeared indifferent to jewelry and ornaments. Late Gupta sculptures (of the late 5th and early 6th centuries) lose their superfine qualities, are often highly ornamented and exhibit a gentle sensuousness and mild heaviness, as does the SBMA figure.
In conclusion, the half-closed, downcast eyes and gentle half smile of the SBMA figure suggest the divine element while the sensuous curves of her upper torso and hairstyle remind us of her human aspect. This particular synthesis of the human and divine was an artistic achievement characteristic of Gupta period art. SBMA is fortunate to have such a fine piece that illustrates the key elements of Gupta sculpture.
Prepared for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Docent Council by Isabel Downs
December 2005
Notes:
(1) Biswas, T.K. & Bhogan Dra Jha. Gupta Sculptures. New Delhi: Books & Books, 1985. p. 24
(2) Pal, Pratapaditya. Desire and Devotion., Art from India, Nepal and Tibet in the John and Bertha Ford Collection. Baltimore: Philip Wilson Publ., 2000, p. 19
(3) Alkazi, Roshen. Ancient Indian Costume. New Delhi: National Book Trust, 1993. p. 95
Bibliography:
Alkazi, Roshen. Ancient Indian Costume. New Delhi: National Book Trust, 1993.
Biswas, T.K. & Bhogan Dra Jha. Gupta Sculptures. New Delhi: Books & Books, 1985.
Desai, Madhuri. The Gupta Temple of Deogarh. Bombay: Bhulabhai Memorial Institute, 1958.
Harle, James C. Gupta Sculpture: Indian Sculpture of the Fourth to the Sixth Centuries A.D. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974.
Pal, Pratapaditya. Desire and Devotion., Art from India, Nepal and Tibet in the John and Bertha Ford Collection. Baltimore: Philip Wilson Publ., 2000
Sthapati, V. Ganapati. Indian Sculpture & Iconography. Forms & Measurements. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Society & Mapin Publishing, 2002
Williams, Joanna Gottfried. The Art of Gupta India. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
POSTSCRIPT
In 2012 the title card was changed: North India, Madhya Pradesh, Panna district.
In 2005 the title card for Female Bust was labeled: India, Mathura region. This research paper reflects this information.