The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Brahma

Brahma

late 900s–1000s

Did You Know?

The back of the sculpture retains the original textured surface from a pointed chisel, suggesting it was in a niche or near a wall, protected from worshippers’ touches.

Description

In the Hindu pantheon Brahma is in charge of carrying out the work of creation. In this tour-de-force of South Indian temple sculpture, he is in a special regal aspect, with the only elements of his typical priestly appearance being the prayer beads and the matted dreadlocks piled on his head.

Four arms connote superhuman power, and four heads convey the idea that his creative activities spread in all four directions. His upper right hand enjoins freedom from fear, and the lower holds a lotus bud associated with birth and the process of creation. His lowered left hand is held in the gift-giving gesture, suggestive of the gift of creation he will bestow upon the world.
  • ?–1927
    (C. T. Loo & Co. New York, NY, sold to Mrs. George A. [Lucie Matter] Forman [c. 1883–1952] for gift to the Albright Knox Art Gallery)
    1927–2007
    Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, deaccessioned and consigned to Sotheby's, New York for sale
    March 23, 2007
    (Sotheby's, New York, NY, March 23, 2007, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2007–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • O. C. Gangoly, “Some Images of Brahma of the Chola Period,” Rupam, Nos. 35-36, July-October 1928, pp. 29-30. Reproduced: fig. A
    Eastman, Alvan C. “A Brahma Image of the X-XI Century.” Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts of the City of Detroit, vol. 10, no. 3, 1928, pp. 34–36 Reproduced: cover; Mentioned: pp. 34–36 www.jstor.org
    Buffalo Fine Arts Academy Notes. vol. 21, no. 1 (May 1930). Reproduced: p. 4
    Buffalo Fine Arts Academy Notes. vol. 22, no. 1 (September 1930). Reproduced: p. 40
    Ritchie, Andrew Carnduff ed. Catalogue of the Paintings and Sculpture in the Permanent Collection. [Buffalo]: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, 1949. p. 154, no. 70
    Lippe, Aschwin. “Divine Images in Stone and Bronze,” Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 4, 1971, pp. 29-79. Reproduced: figs. 10-11, p. 38 www.jstor.org
    Nash, Steven A., Katy Kline, Charlotta Kotik, and Emese Wood. Painting and Sculpture from Antiquity to 1942. New York: Rizzoli International Publications in association with the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York,1979. pp. 90-91
    Kramrisch, Stella. Manifestations of Shiva. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1981. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 45, p. 54
    Sotheby's New York. Indian & Southeast Asian Art: Including Property of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York. March 23, 2007. Reproduced: Lot 27
    Failing, Patricia. "The Hard Sell?," ARTnews, vol. 106 no. 6 (June 2007). p. 55
    Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 47 (September 2007): 3-4. Reproduced: cover and pp. 3-4 archive.org
    Andrews, Isabel, John Mallet, and Samson Spanier. "To Sell-Or Not to Sell" Apollo: The International Magazine for Collectors, September 2007, Vol. 166, pp. 34-39. p. 38
    Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 47 (October 2007): back cover. Reproduced: back cover
    “Art of Asia Acquired by North American Museums, 2006-2008.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 58, 2008, pp. 137–185. Reproduced: p. 152, fig.9. 20542572
    Franklin, David. “Recent Acquisitions (2005—11) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” The Burlington Magazine, vol. 154, no. 1312, 2012, pp. 525–532. Reproduced: p. 527, fig. VI www.jstor.org
    Bidwell, Frederick E. and Leslie Cade. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art; New York, NY: Scala Arts Publishers, 2014. Reproduced: pp. 206-207
  • Shiva and His Many Incarnations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 24, 2007-March 5, 2008).
    Manifestations of Shiva. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (1981–1982).
    Exhibition of Hindu, Khmer, Chinese Sculptures and Early Chinese Bronzes. Wildenstein Galleries, New York, NY (1927).
  • {{cite web|title=Brahma|url=false|author=|year=late 900s–1000s|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2007.155