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Pillar from a Siva Temple Porch

CultureIndian
Dateearly 7th century C.E.
MediumMarble
DimensionsOverall: 103 × 7 1/2 inches (261.62 × 19.05 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number34-2/2
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 227
Exhibition History
No known additional exhibition history at this time.
Gallery Label
Indian temples were often covered with elaborate decoration. This ornamentation, known as alankara in Sanskrit, is intended to make the temple a beautiful and auspicious place for the deities who reside there. The horizontal bands decorating these two architectural pillars contain a variety of fascinating motifs. In the upper registers of the topmost bands, arches rise from the open mouths of monsters called makaras. These alternate with medallions containing dwarf-like nature spirits called ganas. Filling the spaces beneath the arches are either ganas or floral motifs. Below, festoons and garlands are suspended, sometimes from monster masks. The lower bands of the columns are decorated with flowers, leaves, pearls and diagonal lines. The horizontal bands decorating these two architectural pillars contain a variety of fascinating motifs. In the upper registers of the topmost bands, arches rise from the open mouths of monsters called makaras. These alternate with medallions containing dwarf-like nature spirits called ganas. Filling the spaces beneath the arches are either ganas or floral motifs. Below, festoons and garlands are suspended, sometimes from monster masks. The lower bands of the columns are decorated with flowers, leaves, pearls and diagonallines.
Provenance

With C. T. Loo & Co., New York, by January 1934;

Purchased from C. T. Loo & Co. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1934.

Published References

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 3rd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1949), 226, (repro.).

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