Collection Online as of March 25, 2023

Female Attendants

700s

Part of a set. See all set records

India, Kashmir

Ivory

Overall: 7.5 cm (2 15/16 in.); Base: 2.2 x 2.3 cm (7/8 x 7/8 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1972.35

Location

237 Himalayan

Fun Fact

Traces of turquoise paint remain on their bodies, suggesting the presence of fabric.

Description

These elegant female figures would have originally been in a portable, wooden shrine with a central ivory depicting the Buddha. One holds a chaurī, or flywhisk, a frequent attribute of attendants, while the one originally on the left holds a lotus. Both display a graceful contraposto (tribhanga). Their rich jewelry contrasts successfully with the softness of their flesh.

Provenance

?-1972

(Spink & Son, Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1972-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1972." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 3 (1973): 63-115. Mentioned: no. 322, p. 115; Mentioned: no. 322, p. 92 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. 293 archive.org

Czuma, Stanislaw. "A Unique Addition to the School of Kashmiri Ivories." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 8 (1988): 298-319. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 5, p. 302; fig. 8a, p. 304; fig. 8b, p. 305 www.jstor.org

Benay, Erin E. Italy by Way of India: Translating Art and Devotion in the Early Modern World. Turnhout: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 79–80, figs. 68 and 69

Exhibition history

Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973).

Collecting Paradise: Buddhist Art of Kashmir and Its Legacies. Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY (May 22-October 19, 2015).