A rare bronze head of Buddha

The area around the city of Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh was an important Buddhist center even before the rise of the Mauryan Empire in the 4th century BCE. While there are a large number of extant works in limestone and plaster from this time, works in bronze are relatively rare, with only a few other known contemporaneous bronzes from Southern India. The present work likely dates from after the decline of the Satavahana Dynasty, when the area was ruled by the Andhra Ikshvakus or the Pallavas.