Step back in time to Gandhāra, an ancient crossroads in today's northwestern Pakistan. Here, Persian craftsmanship, Greco-Roman realism, and Indian religious traditions fused to create a unique artistic language that would ripple across Asia.
By the first century AD, under the Kushan Empire and along the Silk Road, Gandhāran Buddhist imagery began its eastward journey. Its hallmark lifelike drapery and serene expressions inspired stone carvings at Yungang and Longmen in China, then echoed through the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago.
Now, the Museum of Art and Archaeology at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou invites visitors to trace these cultural connections in the exhibition Blossoming in All Directions: Gandhāran Art and Asian Civilizations. Featuring more than 150 sculptures and reliefs, the show offers a rare glimpse into how art bridged distant worlds and shaped the visual heritage of Asia.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
