Maya's Dream
Relief
1st century (made)
1st century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This slightly curved relief, unfortunately, is greatly damaged and has been split into two pieces through the fixing hole. It represents Queen Maya's dream of the white elephant and the legendary conception of the Buddha. Maya, wearing a long garment with her head and upper body turned away from the viewer, lies against a couple of cushions on a draped couch set between two columns supporting a chequered roof or balustrade above her. Above her knee a white elephant appears within a nimbus, its trunk stretched out towards her. At either side of her in two arches which spring from the pillars stand two attendants in a flexed pose with inner arms pointing across the pillars towards the queen. Remnants of rectangular panels enclosing pillars and capitals terminate the scene on either side. A decorative moulding of a bifurcated leaf or petal runs along the top of the relief.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Maya's Dream (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Carved schist |
| Brief description | Relief showing Maya's dream, light grey schist, 1st Century AD, Swat valley. |
| Physical description | This slightly curved relief, unfortunately, is greatly damaged and has been split into two pieces through the fixing hole. It represents Queen Maya's dream of the white elephant and the legendary conception of the Buddha. Maya, wearing a long garment with her head and upper body turned away from the viewer, lies against a couple of cushions on a draped couch set between two columns supporting a chequered roof or balustrade above her. Above her knee a white elephant appears within a nimbus, its trunk stretched out towards her. At either side of her in two arches which spring from the pillars stand two attendants in a flexed pose with inner arms pointing across the pillars towards the queen. Remnants of rectangular panels enclosing pillars and capitals terminate the scene on either side. A decorative moulding of a bifurcated leaf or petal runs along the top of the relief. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Credit line | Presented by Barger and Wright |
| Object history | Acquired from Evert Barger, Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Bristol and Philip Wright, V&A Museum, as part of the collection of finds excavated during their expedition to the Swat valley in 1938. This was numbered 70 in Barger's lists. Ackermann, Hans Christoph. Narrative stone reliefs from Gandhara in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London : catalogue and attempt at a stylistic history Rome : IsMEO, 1975. p. 62, plate XIa. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | IM.80-1939 |
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| Record created | February 19, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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