Male Fertility Divinity, Possibly Shiva (c. 120–200 CE): Art, History and Details

Male Fertility Divinity, Possibly Shiva (c. 120–200 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 combines an unusual set of attributes. He has long dreadlocks over his shoulders, like an ascetic, and he holds a water pot, like a Brahmin or naga (serpent deity). Also, he seems to carry a sword and dagger like a warrior and is ithyphallic, indicating his virility and fecundity. He may best be identified as a local divinity worshipped for purposes of increasing fertility, but he could also be recognized as an early form of the Hindu god Shiva.

Object facts

• Title: Male Fertility Divinity, Possibly Shiva
• Date: c. 120–200 CE
• Culture: Northern India, possibly Mathura, Kushan period
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: terracotta
• Dimensions: Overall: 17.3 cm (6 13/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art - Kushan, Mathura
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1986.71

A detail from the museum

This sculpture was first made from a mold, then subsequently hand modeled.

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Czuma, Stanislaw J., and Rekha Morris. Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985.
• Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1986." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 74, no. 2 (1987): 38-79.

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.