id:			143649
accession number:	1968.104
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1968.104
updated:		2019-08-16 08:00:21.565000

Nature Divinity (Yakshi), c. 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1968.104

title:				Nature Divinity (Yakshi)
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 75
creation date earliest:		70
creation date latest:		80
current location:		242A Ancient India
creditline:			Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	India, Mathura, Kshatrapa period (c. 20 BC-AD 114)
technique:	mottled red sandstone
department:	Indian and Southeast Asian Art
collection:	Indian Art - Kushan, Mathura
type:		Sculpture
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Overall: 127.6 x 49 x 25.4 cm (50 1/4 x 19 5/16 x 10 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Year in Review: 1968
	opening date:   1969-01-29T05:00:00
	<i>Year in Review: 1968</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (January 29-March 9, 1969).

	title:		Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture
	opening date:   1975-09-24T04:00:00
	<i>Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (September 24-November 16, 1975).

	title:		Tree and Serpent: The Evolution of Early Buddhist Art in India
	opening date:   2020-11-10T05:00:00
	<i>Tree and Serpent: The Evolution of Early Buddhist Art in India</i>. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (November 10, 2020-February 14, 2021).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* Cleveland Museum of Art (11/13/1985-1/15/1986), Asia Society Galleries, NYC (2/13-4/6/1986), and Seattle Art Museum (5/13-7/13/1986): "Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India"

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PROVENANCE

	(William H. Wolff, New York, NY, ?-1968, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: ?-1968
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1968-present
	date: 1968-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact: 


digital 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.

wall description: 
Iconic images of female divinities who personify the life-giving forces of nature were worshipped for fertility, healthy pregnancies, and safe childbirth. Their images were donated by local people and set up in shrines—some under important trees, which the divinity was thought to inhabit in the form of sap. Others, shown with water-serpent hoods, were associated with bodies of water, however small. Traces of carvings that may have been either serpents or locks of hair are visible above this charming figure's elaborate headdress. Nature divinities were so important to local populations that they were incorporated into the sacred complexes of early Buddhist and Jain monuments.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 230
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n254

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 289
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n309

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 15
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1991/page/n30

	Sengupta, Arputha Rani. <em>Buddhist Jewels in Mortuary Cult: Magic Symbols</em>. Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 2019.
	page number: 	Reproduced: Vol. 1, P. 107, fig. 2.81; Mentioned: P. 110-111
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1968.104/1968.104_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1968.104/1968.104_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1968.104/1968.104_full.tif