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Mar 12, 2007

Mar 13, 2007

Nataraja, Shiva as the Lord of Dance

1000s

South India, Tamil Nadu, Chola period

(900-1200s)

Bronze

Overall: 113 x 102 x 30 cm (44 1/2 x 40 3/16 x 11 13/16 in.); Base: 35 x 24 cm (13 3/4 x 9 7/16 in.)

Weight: 116.573 kg (257 lbs.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1930.331

Location

244 Indian and Southeast Asian

Did you know?

The trampled figure holds a serpent in his left hand and with his right points up to Shiva.

Description

One of the most celebrated sculptural forms in the history of Indian art, this elegant and dynamic figure embodies some of Hinduism’s most fundamental tenets. According to Hindu thought, time is cyclical; the world is created, maintained, preserved for a time, then destroyed, only to be created again an infinite number of times. For those Hindus who view Shiva to be the all-powerful creator divinity, he is responsible for both creation and destruction. The ring of fire and the tongue of flame he holds in his left hand refer to destruction, and the drum in his raised right hand refers to the relentless beat of time as it moves inevitably forward. His lower right hand, held up with the palm facing out, signals to his devotees not to be afraid of the impending destruction; they can be liberated from the cycles of birth and death through devotion to him, which he indicates by pointing to his upraised foot. With every step in his dance, he lands on a dwarfish figure personifying ignorance.

Video

Provenance

?–1930

(C.T. Loo 盧芹齋 [1880–1957], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1930-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 761 archive.org

Master Bronzes of India: The Art Institute of Chicago ... [et al]. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1965. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 30

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 236 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 235 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 299 archive.org

Czuma, Stanislaw J., "Eternal Rhythms" , Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 36 no. 08, October 1996 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 8 archive.org

Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 146–147

Connell, Timothy C., and Jackson J. Spielvogel. World Art Transparencies. Cincinnati: West Educational Pub, 1998. Reproduced: Acetate 19

Fichner-Rathus, Lois. Understanding Art. Fifth edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998. Reproduced: no. 18- 30, p. 486

Murphey, Rhoads. A History of Asia. 3rd Edition. New York: Longman, 1999. Reproduced: p. 122

Michell, George. Hindu Art and Architecture. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2000. Reproduced: fig. 114, p. 130

May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 98, pp. 88–89, 119

Preble, Duane, Sarah Preble, and Patrick Frank. Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002. Reproduced: no. 469, p. 324

Getlein, Mark. Gilbert's Living with Art. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Reproduced: p. 9, fig. 1.9

Fiero, Gloria K. Prehistory to the Early Modern World. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Reproduced: Fig. 14.2, p. 323

Palmedo, Philip F., and Bill Barrett. Bill Barrett: Evolution of a Sculptor. New York: Hudson Hills, 2003. p. 29

Dehejia, Vidya. Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India. London, UK: Royal Academy of Arts, 2006. Reproduced: pp. 46–47, cat. no. 1

Sims, Lowery S. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. Reproduced. p. 30; Mentioned: p. 116, no. 17

Buser, Thomas. Experiencing Art Around Us. Second edition. Australia: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 69, fig. 3-14

Fiero, Gloria K. Faith, Reason, and Power in the Early Modern World. The Humanistic Tradition. Book 4. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Reproduced: p. 146, fig. 14.2

Branfoot, Crispin. "Processions and Presence: Bronze Sculptures from the Temples of Southern India." Arts of Asia vol. 36 no. 6 (2006). Reproduced: p. 61, fig. 1

Knight. Elizabeth. "The Art and Science of Chola Bronzes," Orientations 37, no 8. (2006). Reproduced: p. 47, fig. 1

Dittmar, Peter. "Dies gewisse Lächeln…" Weltkunst 15 (2006).

"Sacred Bronzes of Southern India." The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries. October 2006. p. 12

Sims, Lowery Stokes. The persistence of geometry: form, content, and culture in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. Mentioned: p. 116; Reproduced: p. 30, no. 17

"Chola. Heilige Bronzen aus Südindien" Weltkunst issue 15, (December 2006) p. 87

Dehejia, Vidya. Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2006. Reproduced: cat. no. 1, pp. 46–47

Locke, Adrian K. "Divine Beauty: Sacred Medieval Bronzes from Southern India." Minerva vol. 18 no. 1 (January-February 2007). Reproduced: p. 24, fig. 7.

Markbreiter, Robin. "Asian Art in London at the Royal Academy of Arts." Arts of Asia vol. 37 no. 1 (January-February 2007). Reproduced: p. 132

Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 86–87

Cothren, Michael W. and Marilyn Stokstad. Art History. Fifth Edition. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2014 Reproduced: fig. 10-31, p. 322.

Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 208–209

Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Reproduced: P. 37

Dehejia, Vidya. The Thief Who Stole My Heart: The Material Life of Sacred Bronzes from Chola India, 855-1280. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 16–17

Exhibition history

The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).

Exhibition of the Month: Jewelry of India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 1-June 2, 1947).

Art: The International Language. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 2-November 4, 1956).

Master Bronzes of India. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (September 3-October 10, 1965); William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, Kansas City, MO (October 21-December 19, 1965); The Cleveland Museum of Art (January 19-February 27, 1966); The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (October 12-December 11, 1966).

Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).

Sacred India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1985-January 12, 1986).

Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).

Dance of the Gods: Indian Art Inspired by Music. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-December 8, 1996).

The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 6-September 14, 2003).

The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).

Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (November 11, 2006-February 25, 2007).

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{{cite web|title=Nataraja, Shiva as the Lord of Dance|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1930.331|year=1000s|access-date=29 May 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Nataraja, Shiva as the Lord of Dance

Nataraja, Shiva as the Lord of Dance

South India, Tamil Nadu, Chola period

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