The avatars Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, and Narasimha

10th century

This superbly carved fragment is only a small portion of the carving surrounding the main icon, which would most likely have been a large standing Vishnu with four arms.

This fragment depicts the first four of Vishnu’s standard ten avatars (incarnations). The full set begins with the animal forms—the fish Matsya and the tortoise Kurma—here seen at the left center. In a niche at the top of the right half appears Vishnu’s fourth avatar, the man-lion Narasimha. Just below him is the third avatar, the boar Varaha. The rest of the slab holds a rearing vyala (a mythical lion-like creature); a female attendant with a lotus; and, at bottom right, the personification of conch shell.

Sandstone

18 3/4 x 6 x 3 3/4 in. (47.63 x 15.24 x 9.53 cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

39.32

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. 81.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view beginning Jan. 7, 2022].

Published References"Handbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 29 (b&w)

"Gift to a City" exhibition catalogue. Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1965, cat. no. 81

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