Buddha Head, sculpture collection Rijksmuseum

The word buddha means ‘the enlightened one’ in Sanskrit. This head was originally part of a complete body. The marble is smooth and delicately carved, the facial features in particular are elegantly executed. While according to the Chinese Buddhist canon the Buddha has the ‘Thirtytwo Signs of a Great Man,’ not a single sculpture of the Buddha has come down to us displaying all of these bodily features.