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Head of a Male Figure

CultureAfghanistani
Date4th-5th century C.E.
MediumStucco with polychrome
DimensionsOverall: 6 5/8 inches (16.83 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number31-64
On View
On view
DescriptionHair arranged in parallell rows of curls, held by a ribbon tied in a bow at the top. Heavy eyebrows, wide-open eyes, sad facial expression.Exhibition History

Hellenistic Art in Asia:  A Loan Exhibition, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, December 28, 1954-February 15, 1955, no. 55 as Head of a Male Deity.

Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, November 12, 1985-January 5, 1986; The Asia Society Galleries, New York, February 13-April 6, 1986; Seattle Art Museum, Washington, May 13-July 13, 1986, cat. no. 127 as Head of a Young Man.

Hellenistic Art in Asia, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, December 28, 1954-February 16, 1955, no. 55 as Head of a Male Deity.

Gandhara Sculpture from Pakistan Museums, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Art, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Asia House, New York, May 10-June 15, 1960; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; The Art Institute of Chicago; M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco; Seattle Art Museum; Cleveland Museum of Art; Los Angeles County Museum; hors cat. (Asia House, New  York only).

Provenance

With C. T. Loo & Co., New York, by February 1931;

Purchased from C. T. Loo & Co. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931.

Published References

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1933), 83.

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2nd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 140, fig. 3, (repro.).

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 3rd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1949), 182, (repro.).

Fogg Art Museum, Helleninstic Art in Asia:  A Loan Exhibition, exh. cat. (Cambridge: Fogg Art Museum, 1955), unpaginated.

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 223, (repro.).

Benjamin Rowland, Gandhara Sculpture from Pakistan Museums, exh. cat. (New York: The Asia Society, Inc., 1960), 35, 37, fig. 10, (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 2, Art of the Orient, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 128, (repro.).

Benjamin Rowland, Art of India and Southeast Asia. (Winchester, MA: University Prints, 1980), O36, (repro.).

Stanislaw J. Czuma, and Rekha Morris, Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India, exh. cat. (Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art/Indiana University Press, 1985), 223, (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 375, (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 257, fig. 5, (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


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