Ringstone (200s BCE): Art, History and Details

Ringstone (200s BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Ringstones are among the earliest works of art to be created in stone during India's historical period. This example is finely carved with detailed images of affectionate couples and palm trees, running animals, and geometric motifs in concentric circles. The function of ringstones remains uncertain, since none of the surviving examples is inscribed or explained in a text.

Object facts

• Title: Ringstone
• Date: 200s BCE
• Culture: India, Maurya period (322–185 BCE)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: steatite
• Dimensions: Diameter: 10.2 cm (4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art - Maurya
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1977.36

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Annual Progress Report of the Archeological Survey of India, Central Circle, for 1920-21. Patna: Government Press, 1921.
• Marshall, John. Taxila, An Illustrated Account of Archaeological Excavations Carried Out at Taxila Under the Orders of the Government of India between the Years 1913 and 1934. Cambridge [England]: University Press, 1951.
• Irwin, John. “Late Mauryan or Early Shunga Ring-stones,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1951), pp. 1-2.

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.