id:			154769
accession number:	1989.346
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1989.346
updated:		2020-06-04 09:01:37.264000

Plaque with a Male Head, 100s. Pakistan, Gandhara, Kushan Period (1st century-320). Gray schist; overall: 7 x 7 cm (2 3/4 x 2 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Mrs. Severance A. Millikin 1989.346

title:				Plaque with a Male Head
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			100s
creation date earliest:		100
creation date latest:		200
current location:		242A Ancient India
creditline:			Bequest of Mrs. Severance A. Millikin
copyright:			

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culture:	Pakistan, Gandhara, Kushan Period (1st century-320)
technique:	gray schist
department:	Indian and Southeast Asian Art
collection:	Indian Art - Kushan, Gandhara
type:		Sculpture
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Overall: 7 x 7 cm (2 3/4 x 2 3/4 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		The Severance and Greta Millikin Collection
	opening date:   1990-07-05T04:00:00
	<i>The Severance and Greta Millikin Collection</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 5-September 2, 1990).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* Cleveland Museum of Art (11/13/1985-1/15/1986), Asia Society Galleries, NYC (2/13-4/6/1986), and Seattle Art Museum (5/13-7/13/1986): "Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India"

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PROVENANCE

	Ulrich von Schroeder, Zurich
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Severance and Greta Millikin
	date: 1977    
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	(Ulrich von Schroeder, Zurich); Severance and Greta Millikin, 1977
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact: 


digital description: 


wall description: 
This small schist plaque is decorated with the bust of a man. It may have been used in several different ways—for example, like the roundels with highly projecting heads that have been reproduced by Marshall as door knockers, reverse sides of hand mirrors, and so on. Although they are made of bronze, this does not preclude that this schist plaque may have been set in a metal mount. There is also a precedence for objects of this type among the Begram plaster emblemata and terracottas, which may have served for making molds in clay, from which the metal sculpture was then made. There is even a chance that the object may have been used as a lid on a vessel and that the projecting head of the image would serve as a handle. The bust is that of a middle-aged man with his hair pulled up in a chignon. His broad face reveals the somewhat pudgy, coarse features of a well-to-do individual. He wears a scarf around his neck, tied in a knot with loosely hanging ends, the same as one finds on some sculptures of attendants of Buddha in Mathura. This seems to imply either a secular personage or possibly a Bodhisattva. The bottom edge of the bust is decorated with a bead pattern.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Sengupta, Arputha Rani. <em>Buddhist Jewels in Mortuary Cult: Magic Symbols</em>. Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 2019.
	page number: 	Mentioned and reproduced: Vol. 1, P. 101-103, fig. 2.67
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1989.346/1989.346_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1989.346/1989.346_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1989.346/1989.346_full.tif