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Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi as the Goddess Parvati (front)

0990

Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art

Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art
Washington, DC, United States

India, state of Tamil Nadu, Chola dynasty, ca. 990
Bronze
Purchase PI929.84

Artists' treatises outlined archetypal metaphors, such as pliant bamboo-shoot arms, for the depiction of goddesses, but the texts also stipulated perfectly straight shoulders for deities, as can be seen in the images of Shiva in this gallery. Here, sloping shoulders and a regal expression suggest that this is a portrait-sculpture of Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi, adorned and with hand raised to carry a lotus like the goddess Parvati, wife of Shiva. Sembiyan Mahadevi's son commissioned the sublimely graceful bronze to be carried in temple processions on her birthday.

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  • Title: Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi as the Goddess Parvati (front)
  • Date Created: 0990
Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art

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