This image of Shiva’s consort Parvati (or “Uma,” as she is called in Tamil) is one of the earliest bronzes in the museum’s collection. She shares the elongated proportions and slender face of the early tenth-century image of Shiva Tripurantaka, and her crown resembles his crown. These features suggest that the sculpture was made before the end of the tenth century, during the life of the Chola Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi. The elaborate patterning of Parvati’s garment with bands of circles, triangles, and scrolls is also similar to that worn by figures cast in Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi’s workshop.
Details
- Title: Parvati
- Date: c. 975
- Medium: Bronze
- Dimensions: 30 in. (76.2 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1972.23.2.S
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
- Lerner, Martin, The Connoisseur, fig. 6 pp. 198-199
- Dehejia, Vidya, Asian Art: Selections from the Norton Simon Museum, fig. 7 p. 40
- Lerner, Martin, Chhavi-2, 1981, p. 111
- Barret, Douglas, Marg, 1998, pp. 86-87
- Pal, Pratapaditya, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Volume 1: Art from the Indian Subcontinent, 2003, no. 170a pp. 230-232
- Donaldson, Thomas, Iconography and Body Language in Hara-Parvati and Allied Images (2 vols), 2004, fig. 18
- Donaldson, Thomas, Iconography and Body Language in Hara-Parvati and Allied Images (2 vols), 2004, p. 117
- Guy, John, Vidya Dehejia, et al, Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India, 2006, fig. 18 pp. 30-31
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 822 p. 342
- Dehejia, Vidya, The Thief Who Stole My Heart: The Material Life of Chola Bronzes from South India, c. 855-1280, 2021, Fig. 4.11 pp. 106-109, p. 108 (ill.)
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