Celestial dancer

Object Details

• Label

  Exuberant figures of female dancers and musicians, fashioned as decorative brackets, adorn the temples commissioned by the Hoysala monarchs (ca. 1047-1346) of the southern state of Karnataka. Known by the terms madanakai, or "epitomes of love," the celestial figures honored the enshrined god with their music and dance.

  A passion for adornment, evident in every item of this dancer's rich jewlery, distinguishes the unmistakable Hoysala style. Her elaborate ornamentation complements the fluid treatment of her bodily form. Sculptors of chloritic schist must work rapidly, because the stone, which is soft and easily worked when freshly quarried, soon turns hard and brittle.

  This bracket comes from the same Hoysala temples that featured the finely cut image of the elephant-headed god Ganesha, seen opposite. The two images together represent the balance between sacred and secular art that is so characteristic an ingredient of Indian art.

• Provenance

  Nasli Heeramaneck, New York [1]

  To 1996

  Spink & Son Ltd., London, to 1996

  From 1996

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, purchased from Spink & Son Ltd. in 1996

  Notes:

  [1] According to provenance Remark 1 in the object record.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Sculpture of South Asia and the Himalayas (May 4, 1988 to July 9, 2017)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Nasli M. and Alice N. Heeramaneck

  Spink & Son Ltd. (established 1666)

• Origin

  Karnataka state, India

• Credit Line

  Purchase -- funds provided by the Friends of Asian Arts

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1100s

• Name

  Spink & Son Ltd., Heeramaneck, Nasli M. and Alice N.

• Place

  Karnataka state, India

• Topic

  Hoysala dynasty (1110 - 1327), South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Music, Dance, Flowers, Dancer

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians, Apsarases

• Object Type

  Sculpture