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Course: Asian Art Museum > Unit 2

Lesson 2: Lesson 2: Ancient India
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Asian Art Museum
South Asia
Lesson 2: Ancient India
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A Bull, possibly Nandi

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Panels of fired clay like the two on this wall were used to decorate brick temples in northern India during the fourth through sixth centuries.This humped bull may represent Nandi, the devoted mount of the Hindu god Shiva. The decorative element on the right side of the panel is an auspicious motif in South Asian art, representing a lionlike “face of glory” (kirtimukha) spewing jewels into an overflowing pot.
A rectangular terra cotta statue that features a relief of a horned bull who appears to be running or trotting. On the right of the bull is a figure of a lion.
A bull, possibly Nandi approx. 400-500. India; Uttar Pradesh state. Earthenware. Courtesy of the Asian Art Museum, Gift of Neil Kreitman, 1988.52
Panels of fired clay like the two on this wall were used to decorate brick temples in northern India during the fourth through sixth centuries.This humped bull may represent Nandi, the devoted mount of the Hindu god Shiva. The decorative element on the right side of the panel is an auspicious motif in South Asian art, representing a lionlike “face of glory” (kirtimukha) spewing jewels into an overflowing pot.

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