The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c9.19

c9.19

Another stūpa-bracket of the same class, but of more advanced style, is made of quartz-schist and is adorned with a female deity (*devi*), instead of a *deva* (fig. 25). The *devi* wears a close-fitting, long-sleeved garment, large circular ear-ornaments, flat collarette, long flexible necklace and bangles. In front of her breasts she carries an offering of fruit or flowers in both hands. The hair on the forehead is confined by a *taenia*, behind which it falls backward in long tresses and plaits over the shoulders. In the centre, above the *taenia*, is a circular medallion. The volute bracket is enriched with acanthus foliage on its sides and front. The eyes are still unduly large, but the modelling of the torso is more mature than in the preceding examples. The use of quartz-schist also points to a somewhat later date—probably the third quarter of the first century A.D. Not long after that date this type of stūpa-bracket appears to have gone out of fashion, as no later examples are known.