Statue of Kushan emperor Kanishka I in long coat and boots, holding a mace and a sword, in the Mathura Museum. An inscription runs along the bottom of the coat.
The inscription is in middle Brahmi script: Mahārāja Rājadhirāja Devaputra Kāṇiṣka "The Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, Kanishka".[1] Mathura art, Mathura Museum
Kushan art, the art of the Kushan Empire in northern India, flourished between the 1st and the 4th century CE. It blended the traditions of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, influenced by Hellenistic artistic canons, and the more Indian art of Mathura.[2] Kushan art follows the Hellenistic art of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom as well as Indo-Greek art which had been flourishing between the 3rd century BCE and 1st century CE in Bactria and northwestern India, and the succeeding Indo-Scythian art. Before invading northern and central India and establishing themselves as a full-fledged empire, the Kushans had migrated from northwestern China and occupied for more than a century these Central Asian lands, where they are thought to have assimilated remnants of Greek populations, Greek culture, and Greek art, as well as the languages and scripts which they used in their coins and inscriptions: Greek and Bactrian, which they used together with the Indian Brahmi script.[3]
With the demise of the Kushans in the 4th century CE, the Indian Gupta Empire prevailed, and Gupta art developed. The Gupta Empire incorporated vast portions of central, northern, and northwestern India, as far as Punjab and the Arabian Sea, continuing and expanding on the earlier artistic tradition of the Kushans and developing a unique Gupta style.[4][5][6][7]
^Puri, Baij Nath (1965). India under the Kushāṇas. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
^Stokstad, Marilyn; Cothren, Michael W. (2013). Art History (5th Edition) Chapter 10: Art Of South And Southeast Asia Before 1200. Pearson. pp. 306–308. ISBN 978-0205873487.
^Holt, Frank Lee (1999). Thundering Zeus: The Making of Hellenistic Bactria. University of California Press. p. 136. ISBN 9780520920095.
^Duiker, William J.; Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2015). World History. Cengage Learning. p. 279. ISBN 9781305537781.
^Mookerji, Radhakumud (1997). The Gupta Empire. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 143. ISBN 9788120804401.
^Gokhale, Balkrishna Govind (1995). Ancient India: History and Culture. Popular Prakashan. pp. 171–173. ISBN 9788171546947.
^Lowenstein, Tom (2012). The Civilization of Ancient India and Southeast Asia. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. p. 53. ISBN 9781448885077.
The Kushan Empire (c. 30–c. 375 AD) was a syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass...
Kushan or Kushana may refer to: Kushan Empire, an Indian empire Kushan (clan), an Indian clan Kushanart, the art of the Kushan Empire Kushan coinage...
sculpture and especially the paintings at Ajanta. Gupta art was preceded by Kushanart, the art of the Kushan Empire in northern India, which flourished between...
India Rasa (art) Other Indian Art and Architecture forms Architecture of India Indo-Greek artArt of Mathura Gupta art Mauryan artKushanart Sundari painting...
In the coinage of the North Indian and Central Asian Kushan Empire (approximately 30–375 CE), the main coins issued were gold, weighing 7.9 grams, and...
symbols. Like other Gandharan, Greco-Buddhist art, and Kushanart, the statue shows influence from Ancient Greek art depicting Buddhist themes. The sculpture...
major survivals of Buddhist art begin in the period after the Mauryans, within North India Kushanart, the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara and finally the...
such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan (a practice well attested in nomadic Central Asia). Kushanart at Khalchayan (1st century BC) The art of Khalchayan...
reliefs on a railing, dating to the 2nd century CE during the time of the Kushan Empire. The reliefs were found in the Bhuteshwar mound, around the remains...
unique Gandharan style of art, the region attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century CE under the Kushan Empire which had their capital...
made in gilded copper, and dated to the first year of the reign of the Kushan emperor Kanishka, in 127 CE. It is now in the Peshawar Museum in the historic...
inscription in his name. This statue is in all probability a product of the art of Mathura, which was then transported to the Ganges region. Bala Bodhisattva...
Bagram (Begram), Afghanistan. They are rare and important exemplars of Kushanart of the 1st or 2nd centuries CE, attesting to the cosmopolitan tastes and...
(now British Museum) is a gold Buddhist casket for relics, an example of Kushanart, as are the Begram ivories, mostly secular survivals from a palace storeroom...
Brahmi: Kā-ṇi-ṣka), Kanishka or Kanishka the Great was an emperor of the Kushan dynasty, under whose reign (c. 127–150 CE) the empire reached its zenith...
Bagram (Begram), Afghanistan. They are rare and important exemplars of Kushanart of the 1st or 2nd centuries CE, attesting to the cosmopolitan tastes and...
Kushanart is highlighted by the appearance of extensive Buddhist arts in the form of Mathuras, Gandharan and Amaravathi schools of art. Mathura art flourished...
final withdrawal in 150 AD. The Kushan Empire expanded into the Tarim during the 2nd century AD, bringing Buddhism, Kushanart, Sanskrit as a liturgical language...
established in the late 2nd century CE, as it contained six gold coins of the Kushan king Vima Kadphises ruled c. 113-127 CE, the father of Kanishka I, and two...
Temple Caves. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 2,000 years. The first caves were dug out in 366 CE...
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