A BRONZE FIGURE OF UMA Southern India, Chola period, 10th Century

Hagop Kevorkian, 26 June 1924
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1924

"Medieval Indian Sculpture", Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Philadelphia, late November 1927–early February 1928.

"Bronzes of India and Greater India", Rhode Island School of Design, 2–30 November 1955.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, before 8 December 1997–9 February 1998 and 13 March 1998–20 May 2005.

T. S., 'A South Indian Bronze' in The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 11, no. 8, October 1924, pp. 157–9.

W. M. M. et al., 'In Memoriam: Jeptha Homer Wade', in The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 13, no. 4, April 1926, illus. p. 79.

Bronzes of India and Greater India, Rhode Island School of Design exh. cat., 1955, p. 11, no. 17. [Noticed in the Connoisseur for April 1956, p. 220.]

'The Indian Age of Bronze' in Art Digest, November 1955, illus. p. 16.

H. R. Zimmer, The Art of Indian Asia, Its Mythology and Transformations, vol. II, New York, 1955, pl. 415a.

R. C. Majumdar, The History and Culture of the Indian People, vol. 5, Bombay, 1957, p. 672, illus. p.. LVIII, fig. 131.

W. M. Milliken, in Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958, no. 760.

Wear, patination, oxidation and accretion overall. With losses to proper left sash to dharma chakra element at back of head, and areas of base and lotus platform, as viewed.
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The goddess standing in elegant tribhanga atop a lotus faced plinth, her hands in the characteristic lola hasta and kataka hasta mudras. She is richly ornamented with elaborately fashioned girdle, multiple necklaces, armbands and bracelets. The makara terminals of her earrings rest upon her slim shoulders, with floral strands emanating from their gaping mouths. The folds of her dhoti sway gently on either side of her hips, one end arranged in a long fish tail pleat against her inner leg. Her serene face with gently smiling lips radiates beneficence.  

The supple modeling of the figure and stylistic details such as the short conical crown and small siraschakra at the back of the deity’s head indicate an early Chola date for the sculpture.