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Mar 12, 2013

Section of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions

c. AD 150–250

India, Mathura, Kushan period

(c. 80-375)

Red sandstone

Overall: 53.3 x 45.8 cm (21 x 18 1/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1943.71

Location

242A Ancient India

Did you know?

In the windows above, carved on the coping stone, are two voyeurs and a bowl made of leaves filled with flower garlands, which would be used to adorn the sacred site.

Description

Railings demarcated a sacred space, such as a tree shrine or a stupa. Images associated with purifying waters were carved on the railings, as if to symbolically cleanse those who passed through the gate. Under a fruit-bearing tree is a young woman squeezing water from her hair. In a visual depiction of an ancient Indian poetic trope, a goose mistakes the drops of water for pearls and comes to eat them.

Provenance

at least by 1942–43

(Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1943–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Eastman, Alvan C. Catalog of the Heeramaneck Collection of Early Indian Sculptures, Paintings, Bronzes and Textiles. New York: Heeramaneck Galleries, 1934. pp. 3, 24, cat. no. 5

Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. and Nasli M. Heeramaneck. Loan Exhibition of Early Indian Sculpture, Paintings and Bronzes. [New York]: [Edwards Printing Co.], 1935. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 7, cat. no. 1

Lee, Sherman E. Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1942. Mentioned: cat. no. 3, p. 21; Reproduced: cat. no. 3, p. 40

Hollis, Howard. “Three Indian Buddhist Sculptures.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 31, no. 3, 1944, pp. 33–37. Mentioned: pp. 33–34; Reproduced: p. 35

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 744 archive.org

Czuma, Stanislaw. “Mathura Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum Collection.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 64, no. 3, 1977, pp. 83–114. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 91, fig. 15 www.jstor.org

Heeramaneck, Alice N. Masterpieces of Indian Sculpture: From the Former Collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck, Introduction and Descriptive Catalogue. [Place of publication not identified]: A.N. Heeramaneck, 1979. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 20

Carter, Martha L. “The Bacchants of Mathura: New Evidence of Dionysiac Yaksha Imagery from Kushan Mathura.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 69, no. 8, 1982, pp. 247–257. Reproduced: fig. 8, p. 251 www.jstor.org

Czuma, Stanislaw J., and Rekha Morris. Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 28, p. 89

Exhibition history

Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 1942).

Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 13, 1985-January 5, 1986); Asia Society Galleries, New York, NY (February 13-April 6,1986); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (May 13-July 13, 1986).

India's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 2, 1949-January 22, 1950).

The Twain Shall Meet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 1985-January 5, 1986).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Section of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1943.71|year=c. AD 150–250|access-date=03 October 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Section of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions

Section of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions

India, Mathura, Kushan period

Location

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Description

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