Elephant (900–950): Art, History and Details

Elephant (900–950) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The Cham kingdom was located in present-day central Vietnam and was a powerful rival of the Khmer in Cambodia. During the time when this charming, naturalistic elephant sculpture was made, the Cham were actively absorbing stylistic elements from India.

Object facts

• Title: Elephant
• Date: 900–950
• Culture: Vietnam, Tra-Kieu, 1st half of 10th Century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: sandstone
• Dimensions: Overall: 58 x 49 cm (22 13/16 x 19 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Southeast Asian
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1982.10

A detail from the museum

The elephant's features are worn and softened due to weathering.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1982.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 1 (1983): 3–55.
• Eilenberg, Natasha and Robert L. Brown. "The Sculptures." 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.