Apsara Bracket (900s): Art, History and Details

Apsara Bracket (900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This celestial being is a resident of heaven, ornamented as a goddess with tiered crown, heavy earrings, and broad necklace. She reverently proffers an offering, possibly a lotus bud. This figure would have been part of the embellishment of a Cham temple. Her bust emerges from an architectural element that may have formed the end of a balustrade or ceiling bracket.

Object facts

• Title: Apsara Bracket
• Date: 900s
• Culture: Vietnam (Champa)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Sandstone
• Dimensions: Overall: 55.9 x 53.3 cm (22 x 21 in.)
• Collection: Southeast Asian
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1990.34

A detail from the museum

The light-colored spots are due to lichen and other organic growths that have hardened over time, the result of outdoor weathering.

Collection credit

Gift of Robert H. Ellsworth, Ltd.

Further reading listed by the museum

• Czuma, Stanislaw J. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (June 1991): 63-147.
• "Female Worshipper." Société des amis du Champa ancien. no. 6, December 1999.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.