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drum-slab
Object Type
drum-slab
Museum number
1880,0709.39
Description
A drum-slab carved in limestone ('Palnad marble') with a stupa on a lotus base, plain but for a multi-headed naga (snake) in the entrance, a garland and lotus roundels, the stupa is surmounted by multiple umbrellas.
Production date
2ndC
Production place
Made in:
Amaravati
, Buddhist stupa
Excavator/field collector
Excavated by:
Sir Walter Elliot KCSI, FRS, LL.D (hon.)
Findspot
Found/Acquired:
Amaravati
Materials
limestone
Technique
carved
Dimensions
Height:
145 centimetres
Thickness:
10 centimetres
Width:
77.50 centimetres
Bibliographic references
Tripe 1859 / Photographs of the Elliot Marbles and other subjects in the Central Museum, Madras
(5 a)
Fergusson 1873 / Tree and Serpent Worship
(XCI, 2)
Ashton 1950 / The Art of India and Pakistan. A Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London
(31)
Stern & Benisti 1952 / Evolution du Stupa Figure dans les Sculptures D'Amaravati
(XL a)
Barrett 1954 / Sculptures from Amaravati in the British Museum
(49)
NHK 1991 / Daiei Hakubutsukan 4: Indo, bukkyo bijutsu no kaika
(76)
Knox 1992 / Amaravati: Buddhist sculpture from the Great Stupa
(64)
Shimada and Willis 2016 / Amaravati: The Art of an Early Buddhist Monument in Context
(p.48, p.57)
Location
Not on display
Exhibition history
2023 17 July - 13 Nov, USA, New York, The MET, Tree and the Serpent
Condition
good contition save for loss of stone at the lower proper left of the relief.
Subjects
naga/nagini
stupa
Associated places
Used in:
Amaravati
Acquisition name
Transferred from:
India Museum
Acquisition date
1880
Acquisition notes
Acquired as the result of the abolition in 1879 of the India Museum (Exhibition Road, London) and the partition of its contents between the British Museum and The South Kensington Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum).
Department
Asia
Registration number
1880,0709.39
Additional IDs
Miscellaneous number:
1880.7-9.37
(incorrect gallery label)
Miscellaneous number:
Elliot no 102
Miscellaneous number:
IM 1876 no 88
Conservation
Treatment
: 27.08.1992
Treatment
: 24 Mar 2023