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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Female head with headdress

  • Literature notes

    Only the head remains of what was once a complete female figure in very high relief, probably part of a group. The face with its almond-shaped eyes and fleshy lips has the sensual calm, combined with a certain hard-edged quality, of Mathura Buddhas of c.450 A.D. except that the gaze is not downcast, with the consequent exaggeration of the upper lid. The headdress, on the other hand, belongs to the very end of the Gupta period (c.320-550 A.D.) or even the outset of the post-Gupta, as does the right ear-ring, its “bar” already taking the form of a little baluster.
  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaIndianorth IndiaUttar PradeshMathura district Mathura (place of creation)
    Date
    1st half of the 6th century AD
    Gupta Period (AD 320 - 600)
    Material and technique
    red sandstone
    Dimensions
    16 x 10 x 8.5 cm max. (height x width x depth)
    with mount 23.5 x 10 x 8.5 cm max. (height x width x depth)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by The Honourable Penelope Chetwode, 1961.
    Accession no.
    EA1961.138
  • Further reading

    Harle, J. C., and Andrew Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1987), no. 30 on p. 23, p. 49, illus. p. 23

    Harle, J. C., ‘A Gupta Ear-ring’, Leelananda Prematillike, Karthigesu Indrapala, and J. E. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, eds, Senarat Paranavitana Commemoration Volume, Studies in South Asian Culture, 7 (Leiden: Brill, 1978), illus. pp. 78-80

    Ahuja, Naman, ‘Early Indian Art at the Ashmolean Museum - Catalogue in progress’, 2016, no. 116

Location

    • Ground floor | Room 12 | India to 600

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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

    Only the head remains of what was once a complete female figure in very high relief, probably part of a group. The face with its almond-shaped eyes and fleshy lips has the sensual calm, combined with a certain hard-edged quality, of Mathura Buddhas of c.450 A.D. except that the gaze is not downcast, with the consequent exaggeration of the upper lid. The headdress, on the other hand, belongs to the very end of the Gupta period (c.320-550 A.D.) or even the outset of the post-Gupta, as does the right ear-ring, its “bar” already taking the form of a little baluster.
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