Editing Sculpture (section)

==== Greco-Buddhist sculpture and Asia ====
{{main|Greco-Buddhist art}}
[[File:Gandhara Buddha (tnm).jpeg|thumb|[[Standing Buddha (Tokyo National Museum)|One of the first representations]] of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], 1st–2nd century CE, [[Gandhara]]]]
[[Greco-Buddhist art]] is the artistic manifestation of [[Greco-Buddhism]], a cultural [[syncretism]] between the [[Ancient Greece|Classical Greek]] culture and [[Buddhism]], which developed over a period of close to 1000 years in Central Asia, between the [[Wars of Alexander the Great|conquests of Alexander the Great]] in the 4th century BCE, and the Islamic conquests of the 7th century CE. Greco-Buddhist art is characterized by the strong idealistic realism of Hellenistic art and the first representations of the Buddha in human form, which have helped define the artistic (and particularly, sculptural) canon for Buddhist art throughout the Asian continent up to the present. Though dating is uncertain, it appears that strongly Hellenistic styles lingered in the East for several centuries after they had declined around the Mediterranean, as late as the 5th century CE. Some aspects of Greek art were adopted while others did not spread beyond the Greco-Buddhist area; in particular the standing figure, often with a relaxed pose and one leg flexed, and the flying cupids or victories, who became popular across Asia as [[apsara]]s. Greek foliage decoration was also influential, with Indian versions of the [[Corinthian capital]] appearing.<ref>Boardman, 370–78; Harle, 71–84.</ref>

The origins of Greco-Buddhist art are to be found in the Hellenistic [[Greco-Bactrian kingdom]] (250–130 BCE), located in today's [[Afghanistan]], from which Hellenistic culture radiated into the [[Indian subcontinent]] with the establishment of the small [[Indo-Greek kingdom]] (180–10 BCE). Under the [[Indo-Greeks]] and then the [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]]s, the interaction of Greek and Buddhist culture flourished in the area of [[Gandhara]], in today's northern Pakistan, before spreading further into India, influencing the art of [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]], and then the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] art of the [[Gupta empire]], which was to extend to the rest of South-East Asia. The influence of Greco-Buddhist art also spread northward towards [[Central Asia]], strongly affecting the art of the [[Tarim Basin]] and the [[Dunhuang Caves]], and ultimately the sculpted figure in China, Korea, and Japan.<ref>Boardman, 370–78; Sickman, 85–90; Paine, 29–30.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:GandharaDonorFrieze2.JPG|Gandhara frieze with devotees, holding [[Plantain (cooking)|plantain]] leaves, in purely Hellenistic style, inside [[Corinthian column]]s, 1st–2nd century CE. [[Buner]], [[Swat (Pakistan)|Swat]], Pakistan. [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]
File:WindGod2.JPG|Fragment of the wind god [[Boreas (god)|Boreas]], [[Hadda, Afghanistan|Hadda]], Afghanistan.
File:Demetrius I MET coin.jpg|Coin of [[Demetrius I of Bactria]], who reigned circa 200–180 BCE and invaded Northern India
File:Bouddha Hadda Guimet 181171.jpg|[[Stucco]] Buddha head, once painted, from [[Hadda, Afghanistan]], 3rd–4th centuries
File:PoseidonGandhara.JPG|Gandhara [[Poseidon]] ([[Ancient Orient Museum]])
File:PharroAndArdoxsho.jpg|The Buddhist gods [[Pancika]] (left) and [[Hariti]] (right), 3rd century, [[Takht-i-Bahi]], Pakistan
File:Taller Buddha of Bamiyan before and after destruction.jpg|[[Buddhas of Bamiyan|Taller Buddha of Bamiyan]], {{Circa|547 CE}}, in 1963 and in 2008 after they were dynamited and destroyed in March 2001 by the [[Taliban]] in Afghanistan

</gallery>