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Collections

Unknown
Two Addorsed Tree Dryads50 BCE-50 CE

On view:
Resnick Pavilion, floor 1
Sandstone architectural bracket sculpture of a kneeling female figure with raised arms, braided hair, and beaded jewelry, carved in high relief from the base of a weathered rectangular corbel
Sandstone bracket figure of a female yakshi in a dynamic bent-knee pose, arms raised to support a rectangular architectural element above; wearing beaded jewelry and a low hip girdle, with braided hair and foliage carved in high relief behind her.
Sandstone relief sculpture of a female figure in tribhanga pose, adorned with beaded jewelry and a low-slung garment; flanked by foliage and attendant figures in high relief against a rectangular backing slab.

Unknown, Two Addorsed Tree Dryads, 50 BCE-50 CE (alternate view), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Allan C. Balch, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Artist or Maker
Unknown
Title
Two Addorsed Tree Dryads
Place Made
India, Madhya Pradesh, Sanchi, Stupa I
Date Made
50 BCE-50 CE
Medium
Sandstone
Dimensions
24 1/2 x 16 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (62.23 x 41.91 x 19.05 cm)
Credit Line
From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Allan C. Balch
Accession Number
M.85.2.1
Classification
Sculpture
Collecting Area
South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes

In this sandstone image of two elegantly adorned women standing back-to-back (addorsed), the women’s voluptuousness exemplifies the traditional Indian ideal of feminine beauty, which is closely linked with natural abundance. Each of the individualized women holds the branch of a fruit-bearing or flowering tree, suggesting a type of tree nymph of Indian poetry--a beautiful woman who can make trees or flowers bloom by a mere touch of her hand or foot (shalabhanjika). The inclusion of the beautiful tree nymphs and other nature spirits in Buddhist art represents the assimilation of popular village and folk divinities into the higher religion that served to broaden its appeal and attract converts.

These addorsed dryads originally served as a bracket between two gateway lintels of the Great Stupa at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, and thus would have been seen by worshippers on both sides of the gateway. Built in the 2nd century BCE on the site of an even earlier stupa or reliquary mound, Sanchi is one of the most important early Buddhist sites in India. Its four gateways - added in the early first century CE and 30 feet in height - still stand today. For a miniature Votive Stupa, which is a devotional version of a large stupa, see M.85.224.6.

Selected Bibliography
  • Newman, Richard. The Stone Sculpture of India: a Study of the Materials Used by Indian Sculptors from ca. 2nd Century B.C. to the 16th Century. Cambridge, MA: Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, Harvard University Art Museums, 1984.
  • Meister, M. W. "The Arts of India and Nepal." Oriental Art 14 (2): 109 (1968).
  • Price, Lorna. Masterpieces from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya; Dehejia, Vidya; Slusser, Mary Shepherd; Fisher, Robert E.; Brown, Robert L. Arts of Asia 15 (6): 68-125 (November- December 1985).
  • Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Sculpture, vol.1. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1986.
  • Rosenfield, John. The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.

  • Brown, Robert L. Southeast Asian Art at LACMA: An Online Scholarly Catalogue. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013. Accessed June 25, 2024. http://seasian.catalog.lacma.org/.

  • Peyton, Allysa B. and Katherine Anne Paul. Arts of South Asia: Cultures of Collecting. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2019.
  • 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.