Getty Conservators Reassemble a 1,500-Year-Old Buddha Head Cut Into Four Pieces
Making the Buddha Head from Merv Whole Again
A fifth–sixth-century clay Buddha head from Merv, the westernmost of its kind, was found in 1960s Turkmenistan and later sliced into four sections, its hollow interior packed with resin, gauze, and foam. Getty conservators, working with the State Museum of Turkmenistan, used photogrammetry and 3D-printed shells to strip the old repairs and stabilize the fragments, revealing flesh tones and a vivid blue eye. The team is now modeling how the pieces once fit together.
The head's elegantly curved brow and heavy, lidded eye caught my attention five years ago, when the Getty Museum was invited to collaborate with the State Museum of Turkmenistan on the object's conservation.