id: 123438 accession number: 1943.661 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1943.661 updated: 2022-01-04 15:29:49.745000 Naga (Serpent Divinity), AD 300s. India, Mathura, Kushan period (c. 80-375). Sandstone; overall: 67.3 cm (26 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1943.661 title: Naga (Serpent Divinity) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: AD 300s creation date earliest: 300 creation date latest: 399 current location: 242A Ancient India creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: India, Mathura, Kushan period (c. 80-375) technique: sandstone department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art - Kushan, Mathura type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 67.3 cm (26 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 13, 1985-January 15, 1986), Asia Society Galleries, New York, NY (February 13-April 6, 1986), and Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (May 13-July 13, 1986). --- PROVENANCE (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1943 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1943- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: The coils of a serpent's body and the bottle of water in his hand confirm the identity of this figure as a water serpent divinity called a naga. Nagas continue to be important divinities in local piety, for they control the forces of water, essential for prosperity. wall description: The coils of a serpent's body and the bottle of water in his hand confirm the identity of this figure as a water serpent divinity called a naga. Nagas continue to be important divinities in local piety, for they control the forces of water, essential for prosperity. Naga shrines were typically established by any body of water, and Buddhist monuments invariably included a naga shrine within the compound.

The soft swelling of the fleshy body, the gentle curvature of the waist band, and the single elegant necklace are all features that mark the transition to the more naturalistic qualities of sculptures made during the fifth century in the Gupta period. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Codrington, Kenneth de Burgh, and William Rothenstein. Ancient India from the Earliest Times to the Guptas with Notes on the Architecture and Sculpture of the Mediæval Period. London: E. Benn, Limited, 1926. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pl. 22D url: Hollis, Howard. “Three Indian Buddhist Sculptures.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 31, no. 3, 1944, pp. 33–37. page number: Reproduced: p. 36 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25141113 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. 748 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. 229 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n253 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. 229 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n253 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: Reproduced: p. 87, fig. 5 url: 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. 288 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n308 Pal, Pratapaditya. “A Kushān Indra and Some Related Sculptures.” Oriental Art, vol. 25,no. 2 (Summer 1979): pp. 213-230. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 19, p. 222 url: Czuma, Stanislaw J. and Rekha Morris. Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985. page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 27, p. 88 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. page number: Reproduced: p. 15 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1991/page/n30 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1943.661/1943.661_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1943.661/1943.661_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1943.661/1943.661_full.tif