id: 150995
accession number: 1982.44.b
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1982.44.b
updated: 2022-01-13 10:04:00.567000
Double-Faced Crossbar from a Railing: Female Figure (verso), 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.b
title: Double-Faced Crossbar from a Railing: Female Figure (verso)
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: c. 150 BC
creation date earliest: -187
creation date latest: -100
current location: 242A Ancient India
creditline: The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
copyright:
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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:
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CREATORS
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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:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
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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).
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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:
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fun fact:
digital description:
The bust of a female figure in the center of the lotus medallion grasps a cluster of round flowers, probably kadamba, in her right hand. An embroidered coif crisscrosses over her head, and a lotus-shaped medallion ornaments her brow. Like a yakshi, or nature divinity, she embodies life-giving forces of nature.
wall description:
In the center of the lotus medallion 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.
The lotus medallion on the recto 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.
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RELATED WORKS
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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; Reproduced: no. 99, p. 27
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:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.44.b/1982.44.b_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.44.b/1982.44.b_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.44.b/1982.44.b_full.tif