Section of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions (c. 150–250 CE): Art, History and Details

Section of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions (c. 150–250 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Railings demarcated a sacred space, such as a tree shrine or a stupa. Images associated with purifying waters were carved on the railings, as if to symbolically cleanse those who passed through the gate. Under a fruit-bearing tree is a young woman squeezing water from her hair. In a visual depiction of an ancient Indian poetic trope, a goose mistakes the drops of water for pearls and comes to eat them.

Object facts

• Title: Section of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions
• Date: c. 150–250 CE
• Culture: India, Mathura, Kushan period
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: red sandstone
• Dimensions: Overall: 53.3 x 45.8 cm (21 x 18 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art - Kushan, Mathura
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1943.71

A detail from the museum

In the windows above, carved on the coping stone, are two voyeurs and a bowl made of leaves filled with flower garlands, which would be used to adorn the sacred site.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Eastman, Alvan C. Catalog of the Heeramaneck Collection of Early Indian Sculptures, Paintings, Bronzes and Textiles. New York: Heeramaneck Galleries, 1934.
• Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. and Nasli M. Heeramaneck. Loan Exhibition of Early Indian Sculpture, Paintings and Bronzes. [New York]: [Edwards Printing Co.], 1935.
• Lee, Sherman E. Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1942.

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.