Vishnu
CultureIndian
Date13th century
MediumBronze
DimensionsOverall: 37 1/2 × 17 1/2 × 14 inches (95.25 × 44.45 × 35.56 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number56-108
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 228
Collections
DescriptionExhibition History
No additional exhibition history known at this time.
Standing straight and alert, this large sculpture of Vishnu beautifully embodies the power and majesty of the great Hindu god. He is dressed in a patterned, sarong-like garment held in place by a jeweled girdle, which has large bows and streamers at the sides. He wears the jewelry of a king, including a cylindrical crown, necklaces, arm bands and bracelets. Vishnu holds his main attributes, the wheel and the conch shell, aloft with his two upper hands. His lower right hand performs a gesture of reassurance, and his lower left beckons the worshiper to come near to receive a boon.
Ajit Ghose, Calcutta, by 1932-1956;
Purchased from Ajit Ghose by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1956.
Ajit Ghose, “A Group of Early Cola Bronzes,” in Ostasiatische Zeitschrift 10, no. 5 (1934), 176-86, (repro.).
Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri, The Colas (University of Madras, 1975), 733, 764, plate 30, fig. 78, (repro.).
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