This collection uses the Project Zero Visible Thinking routine "See Think Wonder," a routine that encourages students to make careful observations and thoughtful interpretations while helping stimulate curiosity and set the stage for inquiry. The questions in this routine are open-ended and should be used to spark peer discussion, so approach this collection either in small groups or as a class.

When assigning or using with students, remove the blue and white resource detailing the routine.

TEACHER'S NOTES
Students will understand this collection best in the context of broader discussions of the extent of Alexander the Great's conquest, early civilizations in Southwest Asia, beginnings of Buddhist Art, and/or the processes of cultural transmission.

• RESOURCE ONE
  • While guiding your students through the "See Think Wonder" questions, here are some important characteristics you might want to guide them towards:
    • The long ears, the bump on top of the head, the dot between the eyes - who is known for having these characteristics, any individuals they're familiar with?
    • The gold - what might this material say about the importance of this sculpture?
    • Pay attention to the way the face is sculpted - what other sculptures, or artistic styles, does this remind them of?
    • Who might this figure represent? Where might it have been created? Why?
• RESOURCE TWO
  • While your students examine this Roman sculpture and answer the questions on the second tile, there are some characteristics of this sculpture that you might want make sure they notice:
    • The facial characteristics - they are idealistic and perfect, seen especially in the smoothness and symmetry of the face.
    • The subject of the portrait is expressionless.
    • The hair texture is wavy and well-detailed.

OPTIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON KUSHAN EMPIRE/GANDHARA
"It was only in the 1st century CE, five hundred years after the death of the historical Buddha, that artists began to produce anthropomorphic images of the Buddha. The shift from symbolic to figurative representation of the Buddha occurred in the culturally syncretic Kushan empire (1st-3rd century). The empire, which extended from the Oxus (AmuDary'a) river in Central Asia to the Gangetic plains as far as Varanasi, encompassed diverse populations with different religious and artistic traditions. The politically astute Kushan emperors accommodated these populations by producing coinage featuring Iranian, Greek, Hindu, and Buddhist deities with inscriptions in Greek, Sanskrit, and Kharoshti. Similarly, the Buddha images produced within the empire responded to local aesthetic traditions. While artists working in the southern capitol around Mathura employed a style continuous with pre-Kushan Indian sculpture, artists in the northern capitol of Gandhara drew upon the Indo-Greco aesthetic heritage of Bactria to visualize the iconography articulated in Buddhist texts and oral traditions from northern India." (1)

IDEAS FOR EXTENSION

• Have students examine a Mathuran Buddha, such as this one from the MET. Mathura, like Gandhara, was part of the Kushan Empire and one of the first sites of human depictions of the Buddha, but sculptures in this region are stylistically closer to pre-Kushan Indian sculpture. Compare and contrast the two styles: How are they similar? How are they different? How do each represent the Lakshanas (special bodily features) of the Buddha, such as the ushnisha? What about these two regions made these styles similar and different?
• Compare to earlier representations of the Buddha (e.g. one, two). In the earliest Buddhist art, the Buddha was not represented in human form but through signs, such as the thrones he had sat upon, trees he had meditated under, and paths he had walked.

FURTHER INFORMATION

• Object | Head of Buddha from Gandhara
• Freer and Sackler Galleries | The Art of Buddhism: A Teachers Guide (1, 2, 3)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art | Information on Buddhist art from Gandhara
• Metropolitan Museum of Art | Information on the History of Buddhist Art
• Victoria and Albert Museum | The 32 Lakshanas

STANDARDS

• NCHS WH Era 3 | Standard 2D - 9-12 | Assess the character of Greek impact on Southwest Asia and Egypt in the 4th and 3rd centuries and the influence of Greek, Egyptian, Persian, and Indian cultural traditions on one another. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
• NCHS WH Era 3 | Standard 5A - 7-12 | Explain the significance of Greek or Hellenistic ideas and cultural styles in the history of the Mediterranean basin, Europe, Southwest Asia, and India. [Analyze the importance of ideas]
• NCSS 1: Culture - Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity.
• NCSS 2: Time, Continuity, and Change - Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of the past and its legacy.
• NCSS 3: People, Places, and Environments - Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of people, places, and environments.

(1) http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/edan/object.php...