Collection: Indian Art

Among the highlights are several narrative friezes and steles from the Kushan-era Gandhara region (2nd–3rd century CE), where Buddhist visual culture flourished under Indo-Scythian and Central Asian patronage in a distinctive fusion of Buddhist and classical forms. These reliefs depict episodes from the Buddha’s life, processions, and donor figures.

You will also find various depictions of the Buddha, sculptures of Bodhisattvas, as well as deities such as Hariti and Panchika, and classical figures like Atlas and Herakles—visual echoes of Hellenistic influence that shaped Gandharan aesthetic ideals in posture, musculature, and architectural framing.

The collection also includes terracotta figurines from the Indus Valley civilization (circa 2000 BCE), embodying fertility motifs and early symbolic forms. Though abstract and minimal, these pieces offer insight into proto-iconographic practices in ancient South Asia.

From a later chapter in Indian art history, Deccan miniature paintings (18th century) enrich the collection with scenes of courtly life and devotional imagery. Characterized by fine detailing, lyrical color palettes, and elegant stylization, these works represent the legacy of manuscript painting traditions under regional Muslim and Hindu patronage.

Spanning over three thousand years, this selection of Indian antiquities reveals a culture where divine presence, ritual purpose, and artistic excellence were deeply entwined—each object a bearer of meaning, memory, and transcendence.