This rare early example of Nepalese repoussé depicts the god Vishnu in flight astride his half-bird, half-human mount, Garuda. He displays a flaming discus, a club, and a conch. Atop his wings are diminutive figures of his wives. Vishnu was the premier deity of the North Indian Gupta clan, and Garuda their dynastic symbol—a royal association that continued with the Licchavi kingdom in Nepal. The inscription here refers to Vishnu Garudadhvaja (One Whose Banner is Garuda), the Gupta symbol. This relief, the oldest known example outside Nepal, served as a protective sheath for a stone icon of the same subject.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Inscription on base
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Vishnu Riding on Garuda
Date:dated 1004
Culture:Nepal
Medium:Gilt copper repoussé
Dimensions:H. 16 1/2 in. (41.9 cm); W. 11 5/8 in. (29.5 cm); D. 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm)
Classification:Sculpture
Credit Line:Zimmerman Family Collection, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace, Jeffrey B. Soref and Natalie Soref Gifts, 2012
Object Number:2012.463
Inscription: Inscribed in Sanskrit: “In the year 1004 . . .in the Jichchodgesu district of the Nepal mandala, the devout Sri Lipa gave (this) covering [kosa] to Garudadhaja”
[ The Zimmerman Family Collection , New York, until 2012, sold to MMA]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Tibetan and Nepalese Art: Recent Acquisitions," September 17, 2013–February 2, 2014.
Pal, Pratapaditya. "Three Dated Nepali Bronzes and Their Stylistic Significance." Archives of Asian Art 25 (1971–1972). pp. 58–66, figs. 1–2.
Pal, Pratapaditya. The Arts of Nepal: Sculpture. vol. 1, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974, p. 33, fig. 30.
Schroeder, Ulrich von. Indo-Tibetan Bronzes. Hong Kong: Vishual Dharma Publications, 1981, pp. 322–23, fig. 83D.
Alsop, Ian. "Repoussé in Nepal." Orientations 17, no. 7 (July 1986). pp. 16–18, fig. 3.
Bangdel, Lain S., and Vorwort von Krishna Deva. Nepal, Zweitausendfünfhundert Jahre Nepalesische Kunst. Munich: Paul List, 1987, fig. 175.
Pratapaditya Pal, ed. Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1991, fig. 10.
Slusser, Mary Shepherd. "Lord Vishnu and the Kings of Nepal." Asian Art & Culture 9, no. 3 (Fall 1996). p. 15.
Slusser, Mary Shepherd. "The Purandi Hoard: Metalwork from Eleventh-century Nepal." in Art and Culture of Nepal: Selected Papers, by Mary Shepherd Slusser, Gautam Vajracharya, and Manuela Fuller, pp. 194, 240, fig. 29. Kathmandu: Mandala Publications, 2005, pp. 194, 240, fig. 29.
Slusser, Mary Shepherd. "On the Antiquity of Nepalese Metalcraft." In Art and Culture of Nepal: Selected Papers, by Mary Shepherd Slusser, Gautam Vajracharya, and Manuela Fuller, pp. 161–62, fig. 6. pp. 161–62, fig. 6.
Vajracharya, Gautama. "Two Dated Nepali Bronzes and their Implications for the Art History of Nepal." Indo-Asiatische Zeitschrift; Mitteilungen der Gesellschraft für Indo-asiatische Kunst 16 (2012). p. 15.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2012–2014." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 71, no. 2 (Fall 201). p. 17.
Hearn, Maxwell K. "Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 73, no. 1 (Summer 2015) p. 44, fig. 66.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world.
