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

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

Search Results: objects

Show search help

Search Help

  • Searching for multiple terms
    • AND search: If you enter more than one search term in the search box, your search will retrieve results that contain all those terms. For example, enter ‘Iraq Iran', to find all object records containing both ‘Iraq' and ‘Iran'.
    • OR search: If you want to search for either one term or another, enter your search terms separated by ‘or'. For example, enter ‘Japan or China' to find all object records containing either Japan or China.
  • Partial wordsearch
    • Enter your term followed by an asterisk (*). For example, entering ‘Islam*' would return results for all records containing words beginning with ‘Islam', such as ‘Islam', ‘Islamic', and ‘Islamabad'.
  • Searching is always case insensitive
    • For example, searching for ‘India' is the same as searching for ‘india'.
  • Searching for a specific word or phrase
    • Enter your term within double quotation marks (""). For example, to search for the term Abbasid period, enter "Abbasid period".
  • Excluding a termfrom your search
    • Enter the term you want to search for, then a minus or subtraction sign, followed by the term you wish to exclude from your search. For example, if you want to search for records with the term ‘stoneware' but exclude records with the term ‘green', enter ‘stoneware -green'.
  • Searching in non-Latin alphabets
    • It is possible to search using non-Latin alphabets.
    • We do not currently translate all information into other languages.
    • We dotry to record information in non-Latin alphabets where it is:
      • An object's original title
      • A person's name
      • An inscription on an object
Figure of Surya, the Sun godfront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Reference URL
?

Actions

Send e-mail

Contact us about this object

Send e-mail

Send to a friend

Figure of Surya, the Sun god

Location

    • Ground floor | Room 12 | India to 600

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Galleries

Publications online

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

    Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum

    The udīcya (northern) costume, featuring boots, a sort of tunic and a soft cap, its point tilted forward, first appears in Gandhara and Mathura around the first century of our era in depictions of the foreign people to whom the Kuṣāṇa rulers belonged. The squatting position makes a similar appearance at Mathura at this time, adopted by images of Sūrya, Hārītī [see EA1971.36] and some little figures of mother-goddesses (mātṛkās).

    The figure holds a small bowl (?) topped by a lotus blossom in his right hand; his left probably held a sword, of which only the bottom of the scabbard remains. Two little sitting lions, in profile on either side, recall the lion throne of some Kuṣāṇa princes or kings, whereas Sūrya is associated with the seven horses who draw his chariot, thus raising the question, as to whether some other images of the period, as to whether or not this is the Sun-god. Later, Sūrya is unmistakably identified by the presence of two attendants.

    The sculpture is notable for its detail and the crispness of the carving. Whether the deeply cut lines around the sides and lower parts of the face outline a beard (some Kuṣāṇa kings are shown bearded on their coinage) or a faceguard, it is difficult to say.

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum