Nature Divinity (Yakshi)

Description

This powerful figure personifies the ideal of the young mother in the form of a nature goddess associated with birth and nourishment. Her iconic stance with the weight equally distributed on both feet indicates that this statue was an object of worship. Her extraordinary headdress, well preserved in the back, and full complement of jewels and ornaments, point to the idea of wealth, which leads to prosperity.

Provenance

(William H. Wolff, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1968); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1968–)

Nature Divinity (Yakshi)

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c. 75 CE

Accession Number

1968.104

Medium

mottled red sandstone

Dimensions

Overall: 127.6 x 49 x 25.4 cm (50 1/4 x 19 5/16 x 10 in.)

Classification

Sculpture

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund