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Fertility Goddess
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Female figures fashioned from terracotta were found at large man-made pools of water in early Buddhist sacred compounds. They indicate the importance of art and rites associated with fertility and childbirth among the Buddhist laity, of which women were a major component. The wreath, small breasts, and gentle modeling of her full-hipped body associate this figure with Greco-Roman imagery.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineFertility Goddess, 100s CE. Pakistan, Gandhara, reportedly Charsada, early Kushan period. Terracotta; height: 26.7 cm (10 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1977.58
