id: 123467 accession number: 1943.71 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1943.71 updated: 2023-03-08 11:50:25.166000 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1943.71 title: Section of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. AD 150–250 creation date earliest: 150 creation date latest: 250 current location: 242A Ancient India creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: India, Mathura, Kushan period (c. 80-375) technique: red sandstone department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art - Kushan, Mathura type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 53.3 x 45.8 cm (21 x 18 1/16 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: The Twain Shall Meet opening date: 1985-10-30T05:00:00 The Twain Shall Meet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 1985-January 5, 1986). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * 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). --- PROVENANCE (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: at least by 1942–43 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1943– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: 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. digital 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. wall 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. Lotus and blue lily—flowers that grow in water—are the most common motif. 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. 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. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Eastman, Alvan C. Catalog of the Heeramaneck Collection of Early Indian Sculptures, Paintings, Bronzes and Textiles. New York: Heeramaneck Galleries, 1934. page number: pp. 3, 24, cat. no. 5 url: Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. and Nasli M. Heeramaneck. Loan Exhibition of Early Indian Sculpture, Paintings and Bronzes. [New York]: [Edwards Printing Co.], 1935. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 7, cat. no. 1 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. 3, p. 21; Reproduced: cat. no. 3, p. 40 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: Mentioned: pp. 33–34; Reproduced: p. 35 url: ttps://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. 744 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n135 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. 91, fig. 15 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25152680 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. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 20 url: 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. page number: Reproduced: fig. 8, p. 251 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25159785 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. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 28, p. 89 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1943.71/1943.71_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1943.71/1943.71_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1943.71/1943.71_full.tif