Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Dome cornice with garland bearers
India, Amaravati Great Stupa, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh
Not on view
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.
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