The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2023

Nature Divinity (Yakshi)

c. AD 75

India, Mathura, Kshatrapa period

(c. 20 BC-AD 114)

Mottled red sandstone

Overall: 127.6 x 49 x 25.4 cm (50 1/4 x 19 5/16 x 10 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1968.104

Location

242A Ancient India

Description

This powerful figure personifies the ideal of the young mother in the form of a nature goddess associated with birth and nourishment. Her iconic stance with the weight equally distributed on both feet indicates that this statue was an object of worship. Her extraordinary headdress, well preserved in the back, and full complement of jewels and ornaments, point to the idea of wealth, which leads to prosperity.

Provenance
?–1968
(William H. Wolff, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1968–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 230 archive.org
“Art of Asia Recently Acquired by American Museums, 1968.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 23, 1969, pp. 58–87. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 62, fig. 13 www.jstor.org
Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1968." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 56, no. 1 (1969): 3-50. Mentioned: no. 157, pp. 3 and 50; Reproduced: no. 157, p. 30 www.jstor.org
Dwivedi, Vinod P. “Mathura Art in the Museums of the United States of America.” Journal of Indian Museums, 1973, pp. 25–26. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 25–26, fig. 4
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. Reproduced: p. 89, figs. 8 and 9 www.jstor.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 289 archive.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. 26, p. 85
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 15 archive.org
"A Walking Tour." Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 54 no. 01, January/February 2014. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 33 and 45 archive.org
Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 35
Sengupta, Arputha Rani. Buddhist Jewels in Mortuary Cult: Magic Symbols. Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 2019. Reproduced: Vol. 1, P. 107, fig. 2.81; Mentioned: P. 110-111
Exhibition history

Year in Review: 1968. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-March 9, 1969).

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

Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 13, 1985-January 5, 1986).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1968.104