Female Tree Deity with Attendant (c. 973): Art, History and Details

Female Tree Deity with Attendant (c. 973) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Memories of the nature divinities so important on the exterior of ancient Buddhist sites persist in female figures such as this on Hindu temples of the medieval period. Her form personifies fecundity, and the mango tree with which she is integrated bursts into the fruits that dangle down the side of the sculpture. Her attendant gazes into a mirror. This sculpture exemplifies the stylistic characteristics of the 900s, with the exaggerated thrust of her hip, and dense, crisply rendered areas of jewelry offset by smooth planes of flesh. Facial features are articulated with linear clarity and sharp outlines. These idealized female figures convey the notion of auspicious abundance and prosperity in the created world, which are benefits of worship and support of the temple.

Object facts

• Title: Female Tree Deity with Attendant
• Date: c. 973
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Sikar, Harshagiri, 10th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: sandstone
• Dimensions: Overall: 54.6 cm (21 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1967.202

A detail from the museum

There is a small monkey perched by the tree deity's shoulder.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Severance A. Millikin

Further reading listed by the museum

• “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 10 (December 1967): 302–347.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• Lerner, Martin. “Some Unpublished Sculpture from Harshagiri.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 56, no. 10 (December 1969): 354–364.

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.