A Headless Female

CultureIndian

DateShunga dynasty (199-1 B.C.E.)

MediumMolded light red terracotta

DimensionsOverall: 4 1/4 × 2 1/2 × 1 3/8 inches (10.8 × 6.35 × 3.49 cm)

Credit LineGift of Bilha and Edward W. M. Bryant

Object numberF92-15/3

On View

Not on view

Collections

South and Southeast Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionA plaque with the headless body of a female in relief. triple flexed posture with her two hands on her hips, elbows jutting outward, and right knee flexed. short and long necklace, bangles on wrist and ankles, a belt, a jewelled girdle with streamers falling on right thigh, and a dhoti-like garment with folds indicated by parallel lines over the thighs.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

No exhibition history known at this time.

Provenance

Bilha (née Mosheva, b. 1934) and Edward W. M. Bryant (1924–2006), Washington D.C., by 1992 [1];

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1992.

[1] Edward (Ted) Bryant joined the U.S. Foreign Service and held posts in Europe, Africa, and Asia until his retirement in 1981. It is possible that this sculpture may have been acquired when the Bryant family lived in Karachi, Pakistan between 1972 and 1975 or in Delhi, India between 1977 and 1981. At the time of this gift to the Nelson-Atkins, Mr. and Mrs. Bryant also gifted works of art to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. For more information on Bryant’s foreign service work, see Bilha Bryant’s 1998 oral history conducted for the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training in the department’s curatorial files.

Published References

No published references known at this time.

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