Devi (600s–700s): Art, History and Details

Devi (600s–700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Exuding power and grace this diminutive image of a goddess is one of the earliest surviving bronze sculptures from Nepal. Her broad hips and simple, elegant garments and jewelry barely interrupt the contours of her form. Her lowered right hand, in the gift-giving gesture, holds a fruit, and her left hand once held the stem of a flower.

Object facts

• Title: Devi
• Date: 600s–700s
• Culture: Nepal
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: gilt bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 15.5 cm (6 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Nepalese Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1983.153

Collection credit

Gift of George P. Bickford

Further reading listed by the museum

• Kramrisch, Stella. The Art of Nepal. New York: Distributed by H.N. Abrams, 1964.
• Pal, Pratapaditya. The Arts of Nepal. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1974.
• Pal, Pratapaditya. Buddhist Art in Licchavi Nepal. Bombay: Marg Publications: Published for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1974.

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.