The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

The Goddess Kali Standing on a Mountaintop

The Goddess Kali Standing on a Mountaintop

c. 1720
(Indian)
Northern India, Himachal Pradesh, Pahari Kingdom of Mandi
Gum tempera and gold on paper
Page: 28.1 x 18.4 cm (11 1/16 x 7 1/4 in.); Image: 24.9 x 15.3 cm (9 13/16 x 6 in.)
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.98
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The Goddess is wearing a garland of corpses.

Description

The four-armed goddess, her body colored orange, stands on a white mountaintop brandishing weapons and a severed head. A tree composed of puffs is behind her with cypress trees flanking it. Dogs, black birds, a mutilated human, and a decapitated buffalo are strewn about. Two black female attendants offer the goddess skull cups full of blood.
  • Royal Mandi Collection
    ?-July 1980
    (Ramesh Kapoor Gallery, New York, NY, sold to Ralph and Catherine Glynn Benkaim)
    July 1980-2001
    Ralph Benkaim [1914-2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA
    2001-2018
    Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2018-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=The Goddess Kali Standing on a Mountaintop|url=false|author=Master of the court of Mandi|year=c. 1720|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.98