Royal Female Donor
Unknown Artist
c. 1500
Medium
bronze
Dimensions
h. 15.4 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift from Sarita Hopkins Weeks in Memory of her Mother Sara Sessions Hopkins
Accession Number
1978.89
About this artwork
Carrying a lamp in one hand, this female figure draped in finery was probably included as the donor of a sculptural group. She wears a complex headdress consisting of a network of beads and plaques joined together, ending in a bell at her forehead and crowning a long cloth that reaches to her waist. Her position on a lotus flower may indicate the transcendent state she attained as a result of the karmic merit of her donation.