Temple Tank, Tamil Nadu (c. 1860): Art, History and Details

Temple Tank, Tamil Nadu (c. 1860) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The photographer has not only shown us this Hindu temple from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, but also one aspect of how people worshiped there: the ritual bath. He placed the temple’s tank in the foreground, with ghats (steps leading into the water), bathers, and a temple chariot for the procession of bronzes during festivals occupying the middle ground. In the background is a high gopura, a gateway that marks the entry into the temple’s grounds. When seen through a stereo viewer, the two images—each taken from a slightly different angle—create the illusion of a three-dimensional scene.

Object facts

• Title: Temple Tank, Tamil Nadu
• Date: c. 1860
• Culture: Unknown British photographer
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: stereoscopic albumen print
• Dimensions: Image: 7.4 x 7.7 cm (2 15/16 x 3 1/16 in.); Mounted: 8.2 x 7.3 cm (3 1/4 x 2 7/8 in.)
• Collection: PH - Misc. 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2019.72

Collection credit

Gift of Daniella Dangoor

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.