The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.167

v1.c9.167

⁷¹ The following is an extract from the late Mr. Welby Jackson's remarks on the same: "The head is of a superior character in every respect; the eyes open and intelligent; the nose well-formed; and the nostrils open and well articulated; the upper-lip short; the lips well and sharply defined; and the mouth bearing a pleasing and intellectual expression; the head, too, is correctly modelled, shewing some knowledge of the art of sculpture; the ears are concealed by the full curls of the hair, which hangs loosely on each side of the head, the curls being well and sharply executed; on the head is a cap or fillet; the two sides being apparently connected by the principal band which goes round over the forehead; but the upper part open, allowing the hair to appear and fall over the band just above the forehead; the sides of the cap are divided into lozenge-shaped projections from the surfaces, representing some kind of ornament; where these sides join the band or fillet, I think something has been broken off; the countenance is handsome and pleasing in its expression, either in profile, or in full face ;—the material is a dark stucco or cement, not so easily broken as that of Plate XIX, and of better and finer ingredients; indeed the sharpness of the work is surprising, considering its antiquity. I cannot conjecture without more data what or whom this head No. 2, is designed to represent; but it is evidently not a Hindu head; and on comparing it with the heads on the early Bactrian coins, there appears to be a great resemblance, in general character; sufficient to induce me to think it belongs to that period. The expression of the face is somewhat of a Greek cast, but it is not a pure Greek countenance.