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Indra (Lord of storms)

Photo: Paul Macapia

Indra (Lord of storms)

ca. 14th century

The third horizontally oriented eye and rounded crown identify this sculpture as the god Indra, who brings the monsoon rain that makes rivers flood and crops grow. In ancient India, Indra, like Zeus or Jupiter in the ancient Mediterranean, was considered ruler of the celestial realm. Although over the centuries his influence has diminished across most of South Asia, both Hindus and Buddhists in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal still celebrate him as a major deity.
Copper alloy, semiprecious stones
9 1/2 x 8 x 5 1/2 in. (24.1 x 20.3 x 14cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
51.101
Photo: Paul Macapia
location
Now on view at the Asian Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistoryPortland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum, Gift to a City: Masterworks from the Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection in the Seattle Art Museum, Nov. 3 - 28, 1965. Cat. no. 94.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Discovering Buddhist Art - Seeking the Sublime, July 9, 2003 - June 3, 2005.

Tokyo, Japan, Suntory Museum of Art, Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum, July 25 - Sept. 6, 2009 (Kobe, Japan, Kobe City Museum, Sept. 19 - Dec. 6, 2009; Kofu, Japan, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Dec. 23, 2009 - Feb. 28, 2010; Atami, Japan, MOA Museum of Art, Mar. 13 - May 9, 2010; Fukuoka, Japan, Fukuoka Art Museum, May 23 - July 19, 2010).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Luminous: The Art of Asia, Oct. 13, 2011 - Jan. 8, 2012.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.

Published References"Handbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 38 (b&w)

"Gift to a City" exhibition catalogue. Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1965, cat. no. 94, illus. inside back cover

Kawai, Masatomo, Yasuhiro Nishioka, Yukiko Sirahara, editors, "Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum", 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun, catalogue number 98

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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