Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum

A catalogue of the Ashmolean’s collection of Indian art by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield (published Oxford, 1987).

Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield

Publications online: 143 objects

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Fragment of a donor group possibly depicting Vasudeva, Subhadra, and Balarama

  • Literature notes

    This little group, including the small donor figure, stood at the base, on one side of the surround of a large image, most likely Viṣṇu. Such elaborately carved surrounds are a feature of large stele after the Gupta period and with their superimposed figures and motifs and elaborate symbolism they have much in common with the doorways of the period [see EAO.S. 71].

    The figures are easily recognizable as Kṛṣṇa, holding the discus in his right hand, or more likely Vāsudeva, because of his crown, Subhadrā, holding what appears to be a lotus, and Balarāma, identifiable by the hala (plough) he is holding and his serpent hood. They are thus clearly representative, even at this comparatively late date, of members of the family group of five folk heroes at the origin of much of the cult of Viṣṇu [see EAOS.38.a]. Their relation to the iconographical grouping known as Ekānaṃśa (“the single portionless, or undivided one”), with the goddess as the central figure, cannot be discerned in this fragmentary context.
  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaIndia north India (place of creation)
    AsiaIndiacentral IndiaMadhya Pradesh Malwa (possible place of creation)
    Date
    11th - 12th century (1001 - 1200)
    Material and technique
    red sandstone
    Dimensions
    50 x 33 x 22 cm approx. (height x width x depth)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased, 1968.
    Accession no.
    EA1961.168
  • Further reading

    Harle, J. C., and Andrew Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1987), no. 54 on p. 46, p. 49, illus. p. 45

Location

    • currently in research collection

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Publications online

  • Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield

    Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum

    This little group, including the small donor figure, stood at the base, on one side of the surround of a large image, most likely Viṣṇu. Such elaborately carved surrounds are a feature of large stele after the Gupta period and with their superimposed figures and motifs and elaborate symbolism they have much in common with the doorways of the period [see EAO.S. 71].

    The figures are easily recognizable as Kṛṣṇa, holding the discus in his right hand, or more likely Vāsudeva, because of his crown, Subhadrā, holding what appears to be a lotus, and Balarāma, identifiable by the hala (plough) he is holding and his serpent hood. They are thus clearly representative, even at this comparatively late date, of members of the family group of five folk heroes at the origin of much of the cult of Viṣṇu [see EAOS.38.a]. Their relation to the iconographical grouping known as Ekānaṃśa (“the single portionless, or undivided one”), with the goddess as the central figure, cannot be discerned in this fragmentary context.
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