id: 149103
accession number: 1977.36
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1977.36
updated: 2023-08-23 22:35:20.670000
Ringstone, 200s BC. India, Maurya period. Steatite; diameter: 10.2 cm (4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1977.36
title: Ringstone
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 200s BC
creation date earliest: -300
creation date latest: -200
current location: 242A Ancient India
creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
copyright:
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culture: India, Maurya period
technique: steatite
department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
collection: Indian Art - Maurya
type: Sculpture
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
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measurements: Diameter: 10.2 cm (4 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Year in Review: 1977
opening date: 1977-12-28T05:00:00
Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
(Julian Sherrier, London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
date: ?–1977
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1977–
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
digital description:
Ringstones are among the earliest works of art to be created in stone during India's historical period. This example is finely carved with detailed images of affectionate couples and palm trees, running animals, and geometric motifs in concentric circles. The function of ringstones remains uncertain, since none of the surviving examples is inscribed or explained in a text.
wall description:
After 1,500 years during which no works of art in stone survive from India, sculptures began to be made during the 3rd century BC, and this ringstone is one of the first types that survive from that early time. Like the railings that encircled sacred sites, the motifs on this ringstone include running animals and imagery pertaining to birth, fertility, and abundance. The innermost band contains palm trees alternating with the figure of a man who offers a wheat sheaf to a woman.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Annual Progress Report of the Archeological Survey of India, Central Circle, for 1920-21. Patna: Government Press, 1921.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 21, pl. XVII
url:
Marshall, John. Taxila, An Illustrated Account of Archaeological Excavations Carried Out at Taxila Under the Orders of the Government of India between the Years 1913 and 1934. Cambridge [England]: University Press, 1951.
page number: vol. III, p. 147
url:
Irwin, John. “Late Mauryan or Early Shunga Ring-stones,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1951), pp. 1-2.
page number:
url:
Sharma, Y.D. “Past Patterns in Living as Unfolded by Excavations at Repar.” Lalit Kalā, 1-2 (1955-56).
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pl. XLVI, fig. 13, pp. 125
url:
Chhobra, B. Ch. “Antiquities from Jhusi and Other Sites." Lalit Kalā 9 (1961), pp. 11-15.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pl. VI, fig. 14
url:
Chandra, Pramod. “The Cult of Śrī Lakshmī and Four Carved Discs in Bharat Kala Bhavan” in Chhari, (Varanasi: Bharat Kala Bhavan, 1971) pp. 139-148.
page number:
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. 286
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n306
Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1977.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 65, no. 1, 1978, pp. 2–43.
page number: Mentioned: no. 143, p. 43; Reproduced: no. 143, p. 31
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159560
"Annual Report for 1977." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 65, no. 6 (1978): 177-215.
page number: Mentioned: p. 191
url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25159587
Gupta, S. P. The Roots of Indian Art: A Detailed Study of the Formative Period of Indian Art and Architecture, Third and Second Centuries B.C., Mauryan and Late Mauryan. Delhi: B.R. Pub. Corp, 1980.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: Chapter 2
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. 11
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1991/page/n26
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.36/1977.36_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.36/1977.36_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.36/1977.36_full.tif