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Section of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Railings demarcated a sacred space, such as a tree shrine or a stupa. Images associated with purifying waters were carved on the railings, as if to symbolically cleanse those who passed through the gate. Under a fruit-bearing tree is a young woman squeezing water from her hair. In a visual depiction of an ancient Indian poetic trope, a goose mistakes the drops of water for pearls and comes to eat them.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineSection of Monolithic Railing with Bather and Lotus Medallions, c. 150–250 CE. India, Mathura, Kushan period. Red sandstone; overall: 53.3 x 45.8 cm (21 x 18 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1943.71
