The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

A Guardian of Shiva

A Guardian of Shiva

1200s
Chloritic schist
Overall: 113.3 x 49.2 x 29 cm (44 5/8 x 19 3/8 x 11 7/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1964.369
Location: 244 Indian and Southeast Asian

Did You Know?

A three-hooded cobra winds its way up the shaft, while another slithers through the sockets of the skull.

Description

Guardians at Shiva temples sometimes appear as a form of the deity himself. Carved in the ornate style favored by kings of the Hoyshala dynasty (1026–1343), this four-armed figure holds a drum that indicates the ongoing passage of time in his upper right hand. In his upper left hand, he holds a staff surmounted by a decomposing head of the god of creation, Brahma. The soft contours of the face, complete with third eye of knowledge, temper his ferocity and create a gently alluring figure.
  • ?-1964
    (William H. Wolff [1906-1991], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1964-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 236 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, “Golden Anniversary Acquisition,” 1966, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Stechow, Wolfgang. "Cleveland's Golden Anniversary Acquisitions." Artnews 65, no. 5 (September 1966): 30-64. Reproduced p. 31, mentioned p. 64
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 236 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 300 archive.org
    Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. NY: Columbia University Press, 2002. Reproduced: p. 212, fig. 12
    Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Reproduced: fig. 12
    Diamond, Debra, and Molly Emma Aitken. Yoga: The Art of Transformation. Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2013. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 1B, pp. 108-109
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 209
    Larson, Kay. "Yoga: The Art of Transformation." Curator: The Museum Journal 57, no. 3 (July 2014): 363-373. Reproduced: p. 367, photo 4
  • Artlens Exhibition 2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24, 2017-May 29, 2019).
    Yoga: The Art of Transformation. National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (October 19, 2013-January 26, 2014); Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (February 21-May 25, 2014); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 22-September 7, 2014).
    Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966).
  • {{cite web|title=A Guardian of Shiva|url=false|author=|year=1200s|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1964.369