Celestial Musician (Gandharva)
Represented playing a flute and standing beneath the canopy of a flowering tree, this bracket figure of a semidivine musician was intended to decorate a pillar capital in a Hindu temple of the western Chalukyas. Temples of the southern Deccan favored using such figures of celestial musicians and dancers, poised at an angle between the capital of a pillar and the temple interior ceiling stones, to form a bridge between the worldly and heavenly spheres. Their placement in this way made explicit that the temple was considered a heavenly palace.
Artwork Details
- Title: Celestial Musician (Gandharva)
- Period: Western Chalukyan period
- Date: 11th century
- Culture: India (Karnataka, possibly Dharwar)
- Medium: Slate
- Dimensions: H. 40 3/4 in. (103.5 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, in honor of Philippe de Montebello, 2008
- Object Number: 2008.537
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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