Ca. 100BC-300 AD. Gandharan / Greco - Bactrian . A rare small marble bust depicting a male figure. His face is modelled with a serene expression and features bow-shaped lips, almond-shaped eyes, and high-arched brows. In places, there are remains of gilding and the figure would likely have been painted in polychromy. The back of the statue is uncarved. The use of marble rather than the more common grey schist suggests a Classical influence. Gandhara is the ancient name of a region in northwest Pakistan bounded on the west by the Hindu Kush mountain range and to the north by the foothills of the Himalayas. In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquered this region and, together with the Indo-Greek kings that succeeded him, introduced Classical traditions that became an important part of Gandhara's artistic vocabulary over the next seven centuries. For a piece with similar iconography, see https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-a-gandhara-terracotta-male-head-4th5th-century-3273343/?from=searchresults&intObjectID=3273343. For more information on Gandharan art, see Jongeward, D. (2019). Buddhist Art Of Gandhara in the Ashmolean Museum. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Size: L:98mm / W:88mm ; 437g. Provenance: From the private collection of an Oxford gentleman; previously in an old British collection, formed in the 1990s on the UK / International art markets.