Indian Sculpture c5.s3.t1.29

c5.s3.t1.29

In the beginning of the fifth century the modelling had been relatively hard, on the basis of the knowledge gained in the Kuṣāṇa period.¹⁰¹ The chest rigorously adhered to the surface (Fig. 59). This, together with breadth of shoulders, invested the images with an air of command. The outline was accurate and relatively halting. A gradual budding into the roundness of the plastic context, and a serene and uninterrupted flow of lines, are allied features of the later fifth century. An increase of plastic differentiation of the most discriminating economy and of the highest degree of sublimation belongs to the sixth century (Fig. 62).