Personification of the Discus (670): Art, History and Details

Personification of the Discus (670) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Vishnu's main weapon is the discus, or chakra in Sanskrit. Vishnu's chakra is a wheel that is a metaphor for true knowledge, which he uses in mythic battles to slice demons who stand for ignorance and self-centered arrogance. Iconic images of Vishnu show him as four-armed, with a discus in one hand; sometimes the discus is personified. This personification, with the chakra behind his head, has broken away from the main image of Vishnu. Stylistically this sculpture retains memories of the Gupta styles, with the lush ringlets of hair curling from a central part, the relatively simple adornments, and the soft contours of the body. The exaggerated facial expression and figural proportions indicate a transition to a later period.

Object facts

• Title: Personification of the Discus
• Date: 670
• Culture: Northeastern India, Bihar, Aphsad, early Pala period, 7th Century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: chlorite
• Dimensions: Overall: 81.3 cm (32 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1945.367

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hollis, Howard. "The Angel of the Discus." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 33, no. 9 (November 1946): 164-165.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

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.