Gandhara, 2nd/3rd century

While such figures are generally identified as “Atlas,” the Greco-Roman prototype is never equipped with wings. Alfred Foucher suggests the interpretation as a yaksha, likewise supporting the base of a structure, with wings borrowed from Victory. It would thus represent an amalgamation of iconographic elements from Indian and classical sources; for a further discussion, see P. Pal, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, vol 1, fig.35, p.68; for similar examples of winged "Atlas" figures, see W. Zwalf, A Catalogue of the Gandhara Sculpture at the British Museum, 1996, pp.206-11, fig.355-68.