168 



V. A. Smith — Oneco-Roman influence 



[No. 3, 



I venture to maintain with Some confidence that I cannot be far 

 wrong in assuming A. D. 300 as an approximate mean date for the 

 remains of the upper monastery at Nuttu. This chronological determi- 

 nation is of special value because the sculptures from this site, though 

 extremely various in subject, are probably all contemporaneous, or 

 nearly so. The whole site occupied an area measuring only about 80 by 

 60 feet, and 79 objects were found within this small space. Most of 

 these are stone sculptures, which lay round two small stupas, each ten 

 feet in diameter, that occupied the centre of the building. Fragments 

 of plaster figures were found at a distance of a few feet from the minia- 

 ture stupas.* 



The varied collection of sculptures obtained within this small space 

 comprises the Nativity scene, (ante, p. 123), the very elegant figure 

 of a woman standing under a conventional palm-tree, (ante, p. 124), 

 a specimen of the adaptation of the Rape of Ganymcdo, (ante, p. 131), 

 two examples of the death-bed scene or parinirvdna, (ante, p. 125), and 

 numerous figures of Buddha associated with his disciples, the master 

 being sometimes represented with both shoulders draped, and wearing 

 moustaches, (ante, p. 127). 



It seems reasonable to suppose that sculptures obtained within such 

 a very limited area, and belonging to one school of art, cannot be very 

 widely separated from one another in date. It is not likely that they 

 were all executed in a single year, but, for the purposes of art history, 

 they may be safely regarded as contemporaneous. 



If then I am right in fixing A. D. 300 as tho approximate date for 

 this group of subjects, a valuable standard for the chronology of the 

 whole school has been rendered available, and we learn that, at the date 

 specified, all tho subjects named had been adopted by Buddhist artists 

 as proper themes for the exercise of their skill. 



I cannot attempt to indicate every instance in which the art of 

 Gandhara appears to be an echo of that of imperial Rome, and shall 

 quote but few more such instances. The representation of a long roll 

 or undulated garland carried by boys is one of the commonest subjects 

 treated in the Gandhara friezes. A specimen is thus described by Dr. 

 Anderson ; — " G. 91, a to d. — Pour portions of a frieze. Children 

 supporting on their shoulders a long undulated garland, on which aro 

 tied bunches of grapes, and other ornaments ; in tho drooping folds 

 above which, in some, appear the busts and heads of winged human 

 figures, and, in one, a bird of proy with extended wings, while, in 

 others, the intervals are filled with floral devicos."t 



* Cole, Second Report, p. exxiii, PI. 0 (plan and elovation). 



t Anderson's Catalogue, Part I, p. 241. Cf. Colo's heliogravure plato 7, figures 



2, 3. 



