Attendant Bearing a Fly Whisk (Chauri) (c. 100–150 CE): Art, History and Details

Attendant Bearing a Fly Whisk (Chauri) (c. 100–150 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This figure would have been one of two flanking a king, the Buddha, or other royal or holy figure. The relaxed stance indicates that he is an attendant, rather than a central icon. Early depictions of the Buddha in India frequently have images of chauri-bearers on either side. They are identifiable as nature divinities called yakshas during this period, but in later periods the Buddha's attendants can be recognized as specific bodhisattvas, who are beings on the path to enlightenment.

Object facts

• Title: Attendant Bearing a Fly Whisk (Chauri)
• Date: c. 100–150 CE
• Culture: Northern India, Uttar Pradesh, Mathura, Kushan period
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: red sandstone
• Dimensions: Overall: 55.8 cm (21 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art - Kushan, Mathura
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1965.472

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• “Art of Asia Recently Acquired by American Museums, 1965.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 20, 1966, pp. 84–113.
• Lee, Sherman E. “Golden Anniversary Acquisitions: September 10 through October 16.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 53, no. 7, 1966, pp. 181–284.

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.