The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 29, 2023

Naga (Serpent Divinity)

AD 300s

India, Mathura, Kushan period

(c. 80-375)

Sandstone

Overall: 67.3 cm (26 1/2 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1943.661

Location

242A Ancient India

Description

The coils of a serpent's body and the bottle of water in his hand confirm the identity of this figure as a water serpent divinity called a naga. Nagas continue to be important divinities in local piety, for they control the forces of water, essential for prosperity.

Provenance
?-1943
(Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1943-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Codrington, Kenneth de Burgh, and William Rothenstein. Ancient India from the Earliest Times to the Guptas with Notes on the Architecture and Sculpture of the Mediæval Period. London: E. Benn, Limited, 1926. Mentioned and Reproduced: pl. 22D
Hollis, Howard. “Three Indian Buddhist Sculptures.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 31, no. 3, 1944, pp. 33–37. Reproduced: p. 36 www.jstor.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 748 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. 229 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. 229 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. Reproduced: p. 87, fig. 5 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. 288 archive.org
Pal, Pratapaditya. “A Kushān Indra and Some Related Sculptures.” Oriental Art, vol. 25,no. 2 (Summer 1979): pp. 213-230. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 19, p. 222
Czuma, Stanislaw J. and Rekha Morris. Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985. Reproduced: cat. no. 27, p. 88
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 15 archive.org
Exhibition history

Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 13, 1985-January 15, 1986), Asia Society Galleries, New York, NY (February 13-April 6, 1986), and Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (May 13-July 13, 1986).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.661