Sculpted Face

3F · World Art · Central Asia

Said to have been excavated at Murtuk, this carved face appears in fact to have been found at Tötörtura, northwest of the Kumtura Caves near Kucha. Though the hair and the left eye are missing, it is a skilled work that carefully renders the expression of a figure smiling with the tip of its tongue slightly showing. As was common in the Western Regions, the face was molded and then attached to a lump of clay serving as a support; it is thought to represent not a buddha or bodhisattva but a heavenly being (deva) or a spirit.

See it in person at the National Museum of Korea — 3F · World Art · Central Asia

Source: based on official e-museum records (National Museum of Korea).