Section of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions
c. AD 150–250
Maker Unknown
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Section of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions, c. AD 150–250. India, Mathura, Kushan period (c. 80-375). Red sandstone; overall: 53.3 x 45.8 cm (21 x 18 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1943.71 Railings demarcated a sacred space, such as a tree shrine or a stupa. Images associated with purifying waters were carved on the railings, as if to symbolically cleanse those who passed through the gate. Under a fruit-bearing tree is a young woman squeezing water from her hair. In a visual depiction of an ancient Indian poetic trope, a goose mistakes the drops of water for pearls and comes to eat them. In the windows above, carved on the coping stone, are two voyeurs and a bowl made of leaves filled with flower garlands, which would be used to adorn the sacred site.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Formatted Medium
- red sandstone
- Dimensions
- Overall: 53.3 x 45.8 cm (21 x 18 1/16 in.)
- Departments
- Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Accession Number
- 1943.71
- Credit Line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Exhibitions
- India's Art, The Twain Shall Meet, <em>Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942</em>. Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 1942)., <em>Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 13, 1985-January 5, 1986); Asia Society Galleries, New York, NY (February 13-April 6,1986); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (May 13-July 13, 1986).
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 242A Ancient India
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