Tile with Impressed Figures of Emaciated Ascetics and Couples Behind Balconies
This tile decorated the courtyard of an apsidal temple at Harwan, in Kashmir. As this site has a Buddhist affiliation, the presence of emaciated nude ascetics is not easy to explain; they are more readily understood within the Hindu Shaivite tradition. As this mixture of Buddhist and Hindu imagery is also found at other contemporary sites in Afghanistan and western India, the tile appears to be part of a larger exchange that perhaps occurred in relation to the emergence of Esoteric, or Vajrayana, Buddhism. Numerals in Kharoshthi script have been incised into the tile, presumably to aid its placement.
Artwork Details
- Title: Tile with Impressed Figures of Emaciated Ascetics and Couples Behind Balconies
- Date: 5th–6th century
- Culture: India (ancient kingdom of Kashmir, Harwan)
- Medium: Terracotta
- Dimensions: H. 16 in. (40.6 cm); W. 13 1/4 in. (33.6 cm); D. 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Gift of Cynthia Hazen Polsky, 1987
- Object Number: 1987.424.26
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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India (ancient kingdom of Kashmir, Harwan)
5th–6th century
India (Bengal) or Bangladesh
5th–6th century
India, Chandraketugarh, West Bengal
1st century BCE
India
second half of the 8th–early 9th century
India
10th–11th century
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