Male Figure (c. 100 BCE): Art, History and Details

Male Figure (c. 100 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This idealized male figure appears to be the epitome of wealth and success—the attributes sought by a faithful devotee who performs regular worship at a sacred site. The bulbous turban with finely incised textile patterning is characteristic of the style from this period, as are the pinched facial features and the hem of the lower garment that swirls out around the legs.

Object facts

• Title: Male Figure
• Date: c. 100 BCE
• Culture: India, Bengal, Chandraketugarh area, Shunga period (185–78 BCE)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Molded terracotta
• Dimensions: Overall: 38.1 x 15.9 cm (15 x 6 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art - Sunga
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1992.116

Collection credit

Cornelia Blakemore Warner Fund by exchange and Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (1993): 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.