Stylistic Elements
Many of the stylistic elements in the representations of the statue point to Greek influence:
- the Greek himation (a light toga-like wavy robe covering both shoulders: Buddhist characters are always represented with a dhoti loincloth before this innovation)
- the contrapposto stance of the upright figures (see: 1st–2nd century Gandhara standing Buddhas and)
- the stylized Mediterranean curly hair and top-knot apparently derived from the style of the Belvedere Apollo (330 BCE)
- the measured quality of the face, all rendered with strong artistic realism (See: Greek art).
- the halo.
Some of the standing Buddhas (as the one pictured) were sculpted using the specific Greek technique of making the hands and sometimes the feet in marble to increase the realistic effect, and the rest of the body in another material.
Foucher especially considered Hellenistic free-standing Buddhas as "the most beautiful, and probably the most ancient of the Buddhas", assigning them to the 1st century BCE, and making them the starting point of the anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha ("The Buddhist art of Gandhara", Marshall, p101).
Read more about this topic: Standing Buddha
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