The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of March 29, 2024
Naga (Serpent Divinity)
300s CE
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.- ?-1943(Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1943-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- 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. 22DHollis, Howard. “Three Indian Buddhist Sculptures.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 31, no. 3, 1944, pp. 33–37. Reproduced: p. 36 25141113The 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.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 229 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 229 archive.orgCzuma, 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 25152680The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 288 archive.orgPal, 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. 222Czuma, 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. 88The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 15 archive.org
- 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).
- {{cite web|title=Naga (Serpent Divinity)|url=false|author=|year=300s CE|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.661