id: 149103 accession number: 1977.36 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1977.36 updated: 2023-03-11 20:51:08.276000 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: --- culture: India, Maurya period technique: steatite department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art - Maurya type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Diameter: 10.2 cm (4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- 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). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- 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: --- 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. --- RELATED WORKS --- 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 --- 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