Heavenly beauty

anonymous, c. 950

This female figure has raised her flywhisk to brush away the little monkey tugging at her clinging lower garment. The imprints of fingernails on her cheek and shoulder betray the fact that she has just been with her lover. The temples of Khajuraho are entirely covered with erotic sculptures. This heavenly beauty (apsara), from the Lakshmana temple, was attached to the top of a pillar in the temple hall.

Artwork typefigure, sculpture
Object numberAK-MAK-185
Dimensionsheight 96 cm x width 32 cm x depth 21 cm
Physical characteristicssandstone

Identification

Title(s)
Heavenly beauty
Object type
Object number
AK-MAK-185
Description
Hemelse Schone; in de boom achter de vrouw twee apen; naast het linkerbeen ook een aap, naast het rechter een klein vrouwenfiguur.

Creation

Creation
sculptor: anonymous, Khajuraho
Dating
c. 950
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School / Style

Material and technique

Physical description
sandstone
Dimensions
height 96 cm x width 32 cm x depth 21 cm

This work is about

Subject

Acquisition and rights

Credit line
On loan from the Royal Asian Art Society in The Netherlands (purchase through mediation of Charles-Louis Fábri, 1934)
Copyright
Public domain
Provenance
…; purchased through the mediation of Dr Charles-Louis Fábri, fl. 2135.50, by the Vereniging van Vrienden der Aziatische Kunst, 1934;{Note RMA} from whom on loan to the museum, 1972

Documentation

- Handbook of the Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Rockefeller 3rd collection, pl. 19.
- Vidya Prakash, Khajuraho, Bombay 1967, pl. 78, 26.
- D. Desai, Who Brought the Khajuraho Apsaras to the Asiatic Society?, uit: Lalit Kala, 29, 2004, pagina 7-13
- Karel van Kooij, 'Bold and Beautiful', Aziatische Kunst 19/4 (1999), pp. 2-23.
- ‘De beauty', Oog (2007), nr. 1, p. 94-95, afb.
- Renée Steenbergen, 'De Vereniging van Vrienden der Aziatische Kunst in het interbellum : Deftige verzamelaars, rijke donateurs en Indische fortuinen', Aziatische Kunst 38 (2008), nr. 3, p. 12-13, afb. 10.
- A.K. Singh, Minor Inscriptions of Khajuraho, uit: Journal of the Asiatic society of Bombay, 64-66, 1989-1991, pagina 222-237
- P. Chandar, Lait Kala (1955/56), 1-2.

Persistent URL

To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:
https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200106308