A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c12.s1.61

c12.s1.61

A remarkable brass Buddha, obtained at a rest-house (*dharmsāl\=a*) at a village named Fathpur, in the Kāngrā District, Panjāb, is one of the most valued possessions of the Lahore Museum (Fig. 120). The height of the image is 30 cm. = 11·8 inches. While the drapery shows a faint reminiscence of ancient Gandhāran models, the head-dress, or hair-arrangement, like that of the Mankuwār statue, suggests a connexion with Tibet or Bhutān. The technical workmanship is exquisite, but the style decadent. The script of the dedicatory inscription indicates the date as being the sixth century. The open-work pedestal is of elaborate, if rather barbaric, design. The eyes of the image and the minor figures are inserted in silver, as is the *ūrn\=a*, or protuberance, on the forehead, one of the traditional Buddha marks; while certain other details are picked out in red copper.¹ A statuette of four-armed Vishnu, obtained at the same time and place, is of later date and inferior workmanship.