Sculpture from India&#39;s&nbsp;Gupta period to go on display in China

16 sculptures from the Gupta Dynasty will be displayed in Beijing. The works range from 4th-6th century BC and are based on the Buddha in September this year. A cultural agreement has been signed between the two countries allowing India to host the exhibition in China.
Varanasi: As many as 16 sculptures of Gupta period from Bharat Kala Bhawan in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and the museum of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in Sarnath will be exhibited in the Asian art section at the cultural exhibition on Gupta period. The exhibition will be held at The Palace Museum in Beijing, China from September 2016.According to the director of BKB, AK Singh, Union ministry of culture and People's Republic of China signed a cultural agreement under which India will hold an art exhibition of Gupta period in China."As a part of this, Chinese delegation had been visiting us to click pictures of sculptures from Gupta period housed at our museum," Singh told TOI on Tuesday.He further said, "Another delegation led by senior research fellow at department of court history in The Palace Museum (TPM), Luo Wenhua, arrived here on May 7 and finalised six sculptures from Gupta period to be exhibited at the art exhibition to be held in TPM in China from September 28 this year." The delegation left for Allahabad on Tuesday morning.When TOI contacted assistant archaeologist at Archaeological Survey of India's (ASI) museum in Sarnath, Neetesh Saxena said, "The delegation proposed a list of 17 sculptures of Gupta period to be exhibited at art exhibition. But as some of them cannot to be moved from museum hence, 10 were finalised which include Abhaya mudra, Bhairava mudra, cluster of votive stupas, Maitreyi, door jambs of Kamadeva and Rati, lithograph with rider and a head of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara."The finalised sculptures will be collected by the National Museum in New Delhi a month prior to the exhibition. The exhibition is scheduled to commence from September and the sculptures will be collected from National Museum in Delhi by August mid or end, said Saxena.Director of BKB, said that about 70-80 sculptures from Gupta period are expected to be displayed at the impending exhibition in China. The Chinese delegation is visiting various art museums including those in Delhi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Mathura and Bodh Gaya to finalise sculptures from Gupta period that can be exhibited at art exhibition in China, he said.