Ca. 150-300 AD. Gandharan. A schist stone head of a woman. She is depicted with wavey hair tied up in a bundle, soft eyes and full lips, and pump features. The mix of Classical and Buddhist styles is very clear in this piece. The woman probably depicted Hariti. Hariti was a deity in the Buddhist tradition who predated the Buddha himself; she was a protector of children and mothers, who sometimes took on a more terrifying quality in reaction to misbehaving children and flawed parents. Her iconography is linked to the Greek goddess Tyche, a phenomenon that took place in the wake of Hellenised Buddhist art after Alexander the Great's conquests and the subsequent Greek settlers in the region. Her popularity within Buddhist tradition boomed after the Antonine Plague of the second century AD. For more information on Gandharan art, see Jongeward, D. (2019). Buddhist Art Of Gandhara in the Ashmolean Museum. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Size: L:205mm / W:140mm ; 3.85kg. Provenance: From the collection of a London gentleman; formerly acquired in early 2000s in Belgium; previously in 1970s European collection.