id: 122181 accession number: 1942.498 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.498 updated: 2023-03-07 15:13:53.397000 Head of Vishnu, AD 400s. Northern India, Mathura, Gupta period. Sandstone; overall: 28 cm (11 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Edward L. Whittemore Fund 1942.498 title: Head of Vishnu title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: AD 400s creation date earliest: 400 creation date latest: 499 current location: 243 Indian and Southeast Asian creditline: Edward L. Whittemore Fund copyright: --- culture: Northern India, Mathura, Gupta period technique: sandstone department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 28 cm (11 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: India's Art opening date: 1949-12-02T05:00:00 India's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 2, 1949-January 22, 1950). title: 35th Anniversary Exhibition opening date: 1951-06-20T04:00:00 35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Exposition de sculptures et bronzes anciens de l'Inde. C.T. Loo Inc., Paris, France (June 14–July 31, 1935). * The Sculpture of Greater India. C.T. Loo & Co., New York, NY (1942). * Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 1942). --- PROVENANCE Ananda K. Coomaraswamy [1877–1947] date: footnotes: citations: (C.T. Loo [1880–1957], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?–1942 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1942– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: This head of Vishnu is identifiable by the squared crown typical for this deity. Its central medallion features a lion head framed by pearls. Additional strings of pearls issue from the lion’s mouth and are caught by two rampant animals (hippogriffs) that frame the medallion on both sides. Just below the lion head are two heads of makaras (aquatic monsters) with open mouths. The side of the crown has two round, plain medallions corresponding with the central one. In addition, there is a multitude of floral decoration which gives the crown a character of an intricate jewel. wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. History of Indian and Indonesian Art. New York: E Weyhe, 1927. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pl. XXVIII, fig. 99 url: Exposition de sculptures et bronzes anciens de l'Inde, 14 juin au 31 juillet 1935. Paris: C.T. Loo, 1935. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pl. 11, no. 5 url: Pope, John. An Exhibition of the Sculpture of Greater India, A Fully Illustrated Catalogue. New York: C.T. Loo & Co, 1942. page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 27, p. 33; Reproduced: cat. no. 27, p. 54 url: Lee, Sherman E. Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1942. page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 14, p. 22–23; Reproduced: cat. no. 14, p. 44 url: Hollis, Howard. “A Gupta Head.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 30, no. 3, 1943, pp. 26–28. page number: Mentioned: pp. 26–28; Reproduced: [unpaginated] url: www.jstor.org/stable/25141046 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 749 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n135 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 231 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n255 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 231 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n255 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. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 106, fig. 35 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25152680 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 292 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n312 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.498/1942.498_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.498/1942.498_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.498/1942.498_full.tif