Plaque of Sarasvati (goddess of learning and culture)

Object Details

• Description

  Seated female figure, posed frontally. She has four arms, two hold attributes (a manuscript and a rosary), one in the boon-giving gesture, the forth broken. Crowned and bejewelled, the image wears a long garland and is accompanied by a goose. There is a large perforation at either side of the figure and several small drill holes from previous attempts to repair the broken arm and the pedestal.

  The surface is very weathered, rough, and checked as if exposed to the elements. It has an overall greyish color except for the face of the goddess, the foreparts of the goose, and at various breaks such as the right arm, knee, and at the left side of the pedestal. There are several small drill holes from attempts to repair the breaks to arm and pedestal and two large perforations which facilitated attachment to something, perhaps a prabhamandala or a shrine wall.

• Collection

  Long-term loan

• Origin

  Nepal

• Credit Line

  Long-term loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum; gift of John Gellatly, 1929.8.288

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1600s, 1790s

• Place

  Nepal

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Ivory, Goose, Sarasvati, Gellatly collection

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians, Hindus

• Object Type

  Sculpture