Dome cornice with garland bearers
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This panel fragment preserves the repeating design—a garland disgorged by a mythical aquatic monster (makara)—that encircled the Amaravati stupa at the junction of the drum and the dome. The undulating garland, a motif present in the earliest stupa decor, probably reflects the floral decoration added to the stupa drum and its upper enclosure (harmika) during festivals. Handsome young gods (devas), clad in the manner of Satavahana nobility, bear the weighty garland on their shoulders. Non-Indian visual elements are also present: The devas’ heroic postures are familiar from Imperial Roman art, while the acanthus leaf, a Hellenistic borrowing, crowns the garland’s upper rim in place of the Indian lotus.
Artwork Details
- Title: Dome cornice with garland bearers
- Period: Satavahana
- Date: 2nd century CE
- Culture: India, Amaravati Great Stupa, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh
- Medium: Limestone
- Dimensions: H. 36 1/2 in. (83.8 cm); W. 48 in. (121.9 cm); D. 5 in. (12.7 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Lent by Archaeological Museum ASI, Amaravati, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh
- Rights and Reproduction: Photo by Theirry Ollivier
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art