The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Head of Vishnu

400s CE

Northern India, Uttar Pradesh, Mathura

sandstone
Overall: 28 cm (11 in.)
Edward L. Whittemore Fund 1942.498
Location: 243 Indian and Southeast Asian

Description

During this period in India, the Hindu god Vishnu wears a distinctive squarish crown with a central medallion featuring a lion head. With strings of pearls issuing from his mouth, the imagery conveys the idea of radiance and glory. Devotees recognized Vishnu as having solar and royal attributes. His coiled ringlets of hair and heavy earrings also indicate that he was meant to have the appearance of a royal warrior.
  • Ananda K. Coomaraswamy [1877–1947]
    ?–1942
    (C.T. Loo [1880–1957], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1942–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. History of Indian and Indonesian Art. New York: E Weyhe, 1927. Mentioned and Reproduced: pl. XXVIII, fig. 99
    Exposition de sculptures et bronzes anciens de l'Inde, 14 juin au 31 juillet 1935. Paris: C.T. Loo, 1935. Mentioned and Reproduced: pl. 11, no. 5
    Pope, John. An Exhibition of the Sculpture of Greater India, A Fully Illustrated Catalogue. New York: C.T. Loo & Co, 1942. Mentioned: cat. no. 27, p. 33; Reproduced: cat. no. 27, p. 54
    Lee, Sherman E. Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1942. Mentioned: cat. no. 14, p. 22–23; Reproduced: cat. no. 14, p. 44
    Hollis, Howard. “A Gupta Head.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 30, no. 3, 1943, pp. 26–28. Mentioned: pp. 26–28; Reproduced: [unpaginated] 25141046
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 749 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 231 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 231 archive.org
    Czuma, Stanislaw. “Mathura Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum Collection.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 64, no. 3, 1977, pp. 83–114. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 106, fig. 35 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 292 archive.org
  • 35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).
    India's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 2, 1949-January 22, 1950).
    Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 1942).
    The Sculpture of Greater India. C.T. Loo & Co., New York, NY (1942).
    Exposition de sculptures et bronzes anciens de l'Inde. C.T. Loo Inc., Paris, France (June 14–July 31, 1935).
  • {{cite web|title=Head of Vishnu|url=false|author=|year=400s CE|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.498