Unknown
Railing Pillar with Woman and Onlookerscirca 50-25 BCE

Not on view

Sandstone architectural relief fragment with two registers: two faces in a carved niche above, and a bare-chested female figure with beaded necklace and elaborate headdress below, flanked by carved leaf forms

Red sandstone relief panel with three figures in high relief: two faces peering over a carved railing at top, and a female figure below with jewelry and headdress, surrounded by carved foliage. Weathered surface with rounded, full-featured faces.

Terracotta relief plaque with three human figures in high relief: two busts peering over a horizontal register at top, one raising a hand to the mouth, and a larger figure with braided hair and bead necklace below, surrounded by carved foliage.

Sandstone relief fragment depicting a female figure in high relief, wearing a bead necklace and bracelets, surrounded by carved foliage and fruit clusters, with a decorative railing motif along the upper edge.

Sandstone relief fragment with two carved faces in high relief, side by side within an ornate arched frame; left figure wears a crescent ornament, right figure a ribbed headdress, with interlaced and floral decorative borders below.

Red sandstone sculpture fragment, close-up of a figure with curled hair, beaded necklace, and downcast eyes, one hand raised holding an object, with foliate relief carving visible at upper left.

Close-up of a red sandstone sculptural figure, face tilted slightly downward, with elaborately carved headdress, beaded necklace, and ornamental ear adornment; weathered surface with traces of age

Red sandstone sculpture, close-up of a celestial figure with curled hair, a beaded necklace, and an ornate headdress, holding an object in one hand; weathered surface with fine carved detail.

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Railing Pillar with Woman and Onlookers
Place Made: India, Uttar Pradesh, Mathura
Date Made: circa 50-25 BCE
Medium: Mottled red sandstone
Dimensions: 21 x 9 1/2 x 6 in. (53.34 x 24.13 x 15.24 cm)
Credit Line: From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Allan C. Balch
Accession Number: M.85.2.2
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: This richly carved pillar originally formed part of an enclosure railing that demarcated a sacred site at Mathura, an important religious and artistic center in northern India. The exteriors of the sanctified monuments of the indigenous religions of ancient India were often adorned with sensuous imagery to connote prosperity and the abundance of the natural world.

The voluptuous woman exemplifies the Indian ideal of feminine beauty in the form of a young mother. She is depicted beneath a blossoming bakula tree (Mimusops elengi), which not only underscores the notions of nature’s fertility implicit in the sculpture but is also associated with the fluted wine cup held by the woman because it is believed that the tree will flower when a woman sprays it with wine from her mouth. At the top of the pillar, in a balcony beneath an arched roof supported by pillars with lion capitals, are two admiring onlookers. The woman on the left holds her finger in front of her mouth in a variant gesture of amazement (vismaya mudra).
Selected Bibliography: Little, Stephen, Tushara Bindu Gude, Karina Romero Blanco, Silvia Seligson, Marco Antonio Karam. Las Huellas de Buda. Ciudad de México : Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2018.
Little, Stephen, and Tushara Bindu Gude. Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art across Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2025.

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