The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c13.s2.1

c13.s2.1

Most of the sculptures belonging to this group come from the small site of Sikri, and chiefly from a single stūpa whose remains are now in the Lahore Museum. It seems likely, therefore, that they may have been the work of an atelier situated somewhere in the neighbourhood of Shāhbāz-Garhī. Though of relatively little artistic merit, the sculptures furnish valuable data both for the history of Gandhāra art and for Buddhist iconography. Their style, generally, is prosaic, the figures formal and stilted, the composition uninspired. But the quality of the carvings is not uniform. In some panels the figures are not without a measure of grace and comeliness; in others they are ungainly and even ugly. In some, the folds of the draperies are modelled with a correct appreciation of form and substance; in others they are sketchily indicated by incised lines. These and other differences of design and workmanship were manifestly due to the varying abilities of the sculptors engaged on the decoration of this monument, and must not be taken as evidence of any differences in the age of the reliefs.