Uma-Maheshvara (the god Shiva and his wife Parvati)
Datelate 10th to early 11th century
Maker
Indian
, Khajuraho
Label TextThe 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.
Object number38.23
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)”).Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection
Dimensions18 3/4 x 12 3/4 x 5 1/2 in. (47.63 x 32.39 x 13.97 cm)
MediumSandstone
Indian
ca. late 10th to early 11th century
Object number: 39.33
Indian
ca. late 10th century
Object number: 66.10
Indian
first half of the 10th century
Object number: 50.58
Indian
ca. mid-9th century
Object number: 39.35
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