id: 150994 accession number: 1982.44.a share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1982.44.a updated: 2023-03-11 20:51:18.991000 Double-Faced Crossbar from a Railing: Male Worshipper (recto), c. 150 BC. India, Madhya Pradesh, Bharhut, Shunga Period. Plum-colored sandstone; overall: 55.9 x 66 cm (22 x 26 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 1982.44.a title: Double-Faced Crossbar from a Railing: Male Worshipper (recto) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 150 BC creation date earliest: -200 creation date latest: -100 current location: 242A Ancient India creditline: The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund copyright: --- culture: India, Madhya Pradesh, Bharhut, Shunga Period technique: plum-colored sandstone department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art - Sunga, Bharhut type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 55.9 x 66 cm (22 x 26 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Inscribed on recto: "Mitasa suchi danam" translation: remark: inscription: Mitasa suchi danam translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * The Sensuous Immortals. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (October 25, 1977–January 15, 1978); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (March 9–April 1978); Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (May 26–July 30, 1978); Nelson Atkins Gallery, Kansas City, MO (September 15–October 29, 1978). --- PROVENANCE The Pan-Asian Collection, New York, NY date: ?-1982 footnotes: citations: (Robert H. Ellsworth [1929–2014], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?–1982 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1982– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: A well-dressed male figure, probably a nature divinity known as a yaksha, presses his hands together in a gesture of veneration in the center of the lotus medallion. An inscription in Brahmi script states that this section of the railing was the gift of a man named Mitra. wall description: This lotus medallion contains the bust of a male figure, whose hands are pressed together in the gesture of worshipful greeting. His upper garment billows around his shoulders and he wears massive earrings. His enormous turban is tied in the style distinctive to this period. The bead and reel motif around the circumference of the medallion reveals the artist’s knowledge of motifs that originated in the Mediterranean world. At the lower left is an inscription in Brahmi script stating the crossbar was the gift of a man named Mitra.

In the center of the lotus medallion on the verso is the bust of a female figure clutching a nosegay of flowers. She wears an embroidered cloth draped over her head and large earrings. This large crossbar is from a railing that demarcated the sacred stupa site at Bharhut, which is one of the most impressive monuments to have been made soon after the advent of Buddhist art in India. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Pal, Pratapaditya. The Sensuous Immortals: A Selection of Sculptures from the Pan-Asian Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1977. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 1 url: Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review for 1982." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 1 (1983): 3-55. page number: Mentioned: no. 99, pp. 26 and 53 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159799 Clarke, Victoria. Flower: Exploring the World in Bloom. London; New York: Phaidon Press Limited, 2020. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 274 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.44.a/1982.44.a_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.44.a/1982.44.a_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.44.a/1982.44.a_full.tif