id: 142033
accession number: 1965.557
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1965.557
updated:
Surya, the Sun God, early 700s. India, Kashmir. Brass; overall: 50.4 cm (19 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katharine Holden Thayer 1965.557
title: Surya, the Sun God
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: early 700s
creation date earliest: 700
creation date latest: 725
current location: 237 Himalayan
creditline: Gift of Katharine Holden Thayer
copyright:
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culture: India, Kashmir
technique: brass
department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
collection: Indian Art
type: Sculpture
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
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measurements: Overall: 50.4 cm (19 13/16 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions
opening date: 1966-09-10T04:00:00
Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
(William H. Wolff [1906-1991], New York, NY, sold to Katharine Holden Thayer [1898-1985] for gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
date: ?–1965
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1965–
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
Surya wears a long tunic and boots suitable for riding horses across the grassland steppes of Central Asia. The sun god was of paramount power among the people of Central and Western Asia who followed religions such as Zoroastrianism, a pre-Islamic faith emphasizing a sacred duality between light and dark. When the image of the sun god began to be made in India from the 100s BC on, he is shown in the dress of the people who revered him the most. Surya is worshipped throughout the Indian subcontinent and Himalayan regions of Kashmir and Nepal alongside both Hindu and Buddhist deities.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
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
“Art of Asia Recently Acquired by American Museums, 1965.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 20, 1966, pp. 84–113.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 88, fig. 13
url: www.jstor.org/stable/20110986
Lee, Sherman E. “Golden Anniversary Acquisitions: September 10 through October 16.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 53, no. 7, 1966, pp. 181–284.
page number: Reproduced: no. 158, p. 255; Mentioned: no. 158, p. 285
url: www.jstor.org/stable/25152110
Lee, Sherman E. “Clothed in the Sun: A Buddha and a Surya from Kashmir.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 54, no. 2, 1967, pp. 42–63.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 48, figs. 5 and 6
url: www.jstor.org/stable/25152142
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
Pal, Pratapaditya. Bronzes of Kashmir. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1975.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 17, p. 82, pp. 20, 34
url:
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. 293
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n313
Schroeder, Ulrich von. Indo-Tibetan Bronzes. Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publications, 1981.
page number: Mentioned: p. 112, no. 13F; Reproduced: p. 113
url:
Klimburg-Salter, Deborah E., and Maximilian Klimburg. The Silk Route and the Diamond Path: Esoteric Buddhist Art on the Trans-Himalayan Trade Routes. Los Angeles, CA: Published under the sponsorship of the UCLA Art Council, 1982.
page number: Reproduced: p. 108, pl. 39
url:
Czuma, Stanislaw. "A Unique Addition to the School of Kashmiri Ivories." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 8 (1988): 298-319.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 310, fig. 18
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25160044
Reedy, Chandra L. Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style, and Choices. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1997.
page number: Reproduced: p. 154, fig. K41
url:
Pal, Pratapaditya. Sindh, Past Glory, Present Nostalgia. Mumbai: Marg Publications on behalf of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, 2008.
page number: Reproduced: p. 14, fig. 5
url:
Vajrācārya, Gautamavajra, and Vidya Dehejia. Frog Hymns and Rain Babies: Monsoon Culture and the Art of Ancient South Asia. Mumbai: Marg Foundation, 2013.
page number: Reproduced: p. 75, fig. 4.1
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.557/1965.557_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.557/1965.557_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.557/1965.557_full.tif