Uma-Maheshvara (the god Shiva and his wife Parvati)

late 10th to early 11th century

The great god Shiva, identifiable by his trident, matted hair, and the bull below his feet, sits with his wife, the goddess Parvati. Although Shiva is one of Hinduism’s primary deities, this sculpture was not the main icon in a temple. It occupied an important place on the elaborate exterior wall, where devotees encountered it during their ritual clockwise walk around the temple. The gods, celestial attendants, and guardians on a temple’s exterior walls amplify the idea that this is god’s palace and, in concept, the center of the universe.

Sandstone

18 3/4 x 12 3/4 x 5 1/2 in. (47.63 x 32.39 x 13.97 cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

38.23

Now on view at the Asian Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum, Art Of Greater India, 1950.

Portland, 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. 82.

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. 30 (b&w)

"Gift to a City" exhibition catalogue. Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1965, cat. no. 82

Fuller, Richard E. "A Gift to the City." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1993, p. 24.

Asia Society. The Art of India, Stone Sculpture. New York: Asia Society, 1962, pp.62-63, fig. 41(as "Uma-Mahesvara Murti (Siva with Parvati and host)”).

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