G760.11 A RED SANDSTONE RELIEF DEPICTING AN APSARA


Sculpture

G760.11 A RED SANDSTONE RELIEF DEPICTING AN APSARA

NORTHERN INDIAN, MATHURA

KUSHAN PERIOD, 2ND – 3RD CENTURY
H. 31 CMS, 12 ¼ INS

A sensuous mottled red sandstone relief depicting an apsara (a celestial maiden) enclosed within complex vegetal scrolls, with her right arm raised above her head, her hair in an elaborate chignon, adorned with extensive jewellery, naked to the waist with her lower body clad in a diaphanous dhoti.

Female figures of this type are reminiscent of yakshis (nature spirits) recalling the Salabhanjika (‘tree fertilising’) pose found in ancient Indian sculpture. The devata grasps a branch, forcing nature to wake from dormancy and causing the tree to bloom.

For a related image in the Mathura Archaeological Museum, see cat. no. 105 in Deborah E. Klimburg-Salter, Buddha in Indien, Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, 1995.

Provenance: Private English Collection.

Acquired during the family’s long service in India between 1946 and 1967.