id: 145407 accession number: 1970.62 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1970.62 updated: 2022-10-29 15:02:03.808000 Ganesha, c. 1070. South India, Medieval period, Chola dynasty(10th-13th century). Bronze; overall: 50.8 x 25.4 x 17.8 cm (20 x 10 x 7 in.); base: 23 x 18.3 cm (9 1/16 x 7 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katharine Holden Thayer 1970.62 title: Ganesha title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1070 creation date earliest: 1060 creation date latest: 1080 current location: 244 Indian and Southeast Asian creditline: Gift of Katharine Holden Thayer copyright: --- culture: South India, Medieval period, Chola dynasty(10th-13th century) technique: bronze department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 50.8 x 25.4 x 17.8 cm (20 x 10 x 7 in.); Base: 23 x 18.3 cm (9 1/16 x 7 3/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1970 opening date: 1971-02-10T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971). title: The Age of Bronze opening date: 1982-07-13T04:00:00 The Age of Bronze. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-October 17, 1982). title: Images of the Mind opening date: 1987-07-07T04:00:00 Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987). title: Dance of the Gods: Indian Art Inspired by Music opening date: 1996-09-24T04:00:00 Dance of the Gods: Indian Art Inspired by Music. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-December 8, 1996). title: The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India opening date: 2002-11-10T00:00:00 The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India. Smithsonian Institution Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC (November 10, 2002-March 9, 2003); The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (April 4-June 15, 2003); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 6-September 14, 2003). title: Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India opening date: 2006-11-11T00:00:00 Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (November 11, 2006-February 25, 2007). title: Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2009-06-27T04:00:00 Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009). title: Gallery One 2012 opening date: 2012-12-12T05:00:00 Gallery One 2012. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 2012-March 5, 2017). title: Indian Gallery 242 Rotation – April-November 2017 opening date: 2017-04-10T04:00:00 Indian Gallery 242 Rotation – April-November 2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 10-November 6, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (J. J. Klejman, New York, NY) date: footnotes: citations: Katharine Holden Thayer [1898–1985], Cleveland, OH given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?–1970 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1970– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Ganesha, the god of wealth and abundance, is an auspicious and revered Hindu deity. He removes obstacles and protects his worshipers. Numerous myths explain how Ganesha became an elephant-man composite, but the most popular version relates the story of how he was decapitated by his enraged father, Shiva, and restored to life through the intervention of his mother, Parvati. Shiva agreed to revive him with the head of the first creature encountered: an elephant. Ganesha's strength—his profound spiritual wisdom—contrasts with his weakness for sweets, as indicated by his pudginess and the sweet modaka he carries. In Ganesha, opposing forces exist in perfect harmony. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS "Art of Asia Recently Acquired by American Museums, 1970." Archives of Asian Art 25 (1971): 91-120. page number: Mentioned: P. 110; reproduced: P. 95, fig. 11 url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20111035 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. 299 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n319 Wallbank, T. Walter, A.M. Taylor, and N.M. Bailkey. Civilization Past & Present. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foreseman, 1981. page number: Reproduced: vol. 1, p. 200 url: Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 150–151 url: Davis, Richard H. “Wooden Flowers in the Museum: Reflections on a Decorated Nataraja.” Orientations 33, no. 9 (November 2002): 54–61. page number: Reproduced: P. 56, fig. 5 url: Dehejia, Vidya, Richard H. Davis, Irā Nākacāmi, and Karen Pechilis. The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India. New York: American Federation of Arts, 2002. page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 22, pp. 140–142 url: Czuma, Stanislaw J. “Great Acquisitions of Indian and Southeast Asian Art at The Cleveland Museum of Art.” Orientations 36, no. 1 (January 2005): 82–87. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 85-86 url: "Sacred Bronzes of Southern India." The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries Vol. 9, iss. 10 (October 2006): 12. page number: Reproduced: P. 12 url: Branfoot, Crispin. "Processions and Presence: Bronze Sculptures from the Temples of Southern India." Arts of Asia Vol. 36, No. 6 (November/December 2006): 61-71. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 68, fig. 7 url: Dehejia, Vidya. Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2006. page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 7, pp. 90-93 url: Locke, Adrian K. "Divine Beauty: Sacred Medieval Bronzes from Southern India." Minerva Vol. 18, No. 1 ( January-February 2007): 22-24. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 24, fig. 9 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1970.62/1970.62_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1970.62/1970.62_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1970.62/1970.62_full.tif