Collection online

figure

• Object type

  • figure

• Museum number

  1872,0701.55

• Description

  Seated figure of the goddess Sarasvatī carved in a beige-coloured sandstone.

  The four-armed goddess holds a rosary (akṣamālā), palm-leaf book (pustaka) and a stringed instrument (vīṇā). In the pedestal in low relief is her vehicle, the goose (haṁsa).

• Date

  • 12thC

• Findspot

  • Found/Acquired: India, Provenance unrecorded, possibly Jamsot (Central?)
  • (Asia,South Asia,India)

• Materials

  • sandstone (beige)

• Technique

  • carved

• Dimensions

  • Height: 68.6 centimetres
  • Width: 35 centimetres
  • Length: 21.5 centimetres
  • Weight: 57 kilograms

• Location

  Not on display

• Exhibition history

  Exhibited:

  2000 14 May-29 Oct, Germany, Berlin, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Seven Hills – Images and Signs of the 21st Century

• Subjects

  • hindu deity

• Associated names

  • Representation of: Sarasvatī

• Acquisition name

  • Donated by: Mrs Edgar Baker
  • Donated by: Miss Fanny Bridge
  • Donated by: Mrs John Bridge
  • Previous owner/ex-collection: Major General Charles Stuart
  • Previous owner/ex-collection: John Bridge

• Acquisition date

  1872

• Acquisition notes

  Purchased by John Bridge at the Stuart sale at Christie's in June, 1830. The collection was given to the British Museum in 1872 by Mrs John Bridge and his nieces, Miss Fanny Bridge and Mrs Edgar Baker, on the death that year of George Bridge, brother of John Bridge.

• Department

  Asia

• Registration number

  1872,0701.55

• Additional IDs

  • 85 (Bridge Collection number)
  • Stuart 55