The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 1, 2023

Worshippers Giving Offerings to the Bodhi Tree

AD 100s

Southern India, Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati, Satavahana Period

(c. 100 BC - c. AD 200)

Limestone

Overall: 80 x 57.1 cm (31 1/2 x 22 1/2 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1970.43

Location

242A Ancient India

Description

The square railing surrounding the base of the trunk is the marker of a sacred tree. This tree has the distinctive heart-shaped leaves of the Bodhi tree (ficus religiosa), which is the type of tree under which the Buddha reached enlightenment. Each of the the worshippers holds a narrow-necked pot with lotus flowers emerging from the mouth. The lotus flowers are a symbol for water, so these figures are pouring offerings of pure water to the sacred tree.

Provenance
?-1970
(Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1970-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1970." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 58, no. 2 (1971): 22-71. Reproduced: no. 131, p. 46; Mentioned: no. 131, p. 157 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. 290 archive.org
Heeramaneck, Alice N. Masterpieces of Indian Sculpture from the Former Collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck. Verona, Italy: A.N. Heeramaneck, 1979. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 7
Pal, Pratapaditya. A Pot-Pourri of Indian Art. Bombay: Marg Publications, 1988. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 18, fig. 18
Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Reproduced: pp. 124-125
Brummett, Palmira Johnson. Civilization Past & Present. New York: Longman, 1999. Reproduced: p. 140
Exhibition history

Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971).

Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).

Sacred India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1985-January 12, 1986).

Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1970.43