Home › Arts › Asia Society Museum › Past Exhibitions

Devotion in South India: Chola Bronzes

Share

Saint Sambandar. India, Tamil Nadu. Chola period, 12th century. Copper alloy. Asia Society, New York: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Collection, 1979.24
enlarge image

Saint Sambandar. India, Tamil Nadu. Chola period, 12th century. Copper alloy. Asia Society, New York: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Collection, 1979.24

October 6, 2009 – February 7, 2010

This exhibition presents, for the first time, the entire stunning collection of Chola bronzes from Asia Society’s Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, along with select bronzes from significant collections in the New York area.

The tradition of cast-bronze sculptures in the Tamil-speaking region of south India became widely prevalent under the imperial rule of the Cholas, who rose to prominence in the late 9th century at Tanjavur (Tanjore) in the delta of the Kaveri River. These sculptures, mainly created from the 9th through the 13th century, are of the highest quality.

Reflecting a new approach to the subject matter, this exhibition considers cast-bronze sculptures in relation to the Hindu tradition of bhakti (devotion), which emphasizes intense and intimate devotion to a personal god. The depiction of itinerant poet-saints among Chola bronzes reflects the importance of these figures in promoting bhakti and the growth of Hindu temples.

Devotion in South India: Chola Bronzes exhibition website

kityhog | 12:03:09 07:30am
god of Natrajan! its really a beautiful one of the great http://ezinearticles.com/?Best-Anti-Wrinkle-Cream-Review---Revealed-by-Dr-Oz-on-Oprahs-Show&id=2271470
gp | 09:06:09 12:14pm
Kindly look at this link for missing Cholas http://www.tneow.gov.in/IDOL/status_info.html
Adriana Proser | 10:19:09 12:38pm
Thanks for bringing this to our attention and the attention of other visitors to the website. Please know that at Asia Society we are mindful of provenance issues. Indeed our collections policy states as follows: "The Museum will not directly or indirectly acquire objects that have an unethical history of ownership. The Museum adheres to the standards of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention (1972), and will not knowingly acquire or exhibit artifacts which have been stolen, illegally removed from their country of origin, illegally salvaged, or removed from commercially exploited archaeological or historic sites." Asia Society Collections Management Policy, Section 2.4, Page 10 "Asia Society Museum does not accept incoming loans offered for the purposes of commercial exploitation of the object or to increase the value of the object when sold, nor does it provide long- or short- term storage services. The Museum adheres to the standards of UNESCO World Heritage Convention (1972) and will not knowingly exhibit artifacts which have been stolen, illegally removed from their country of origin, illegally salvaged, or removed from commercially exploited archaeological or historic sites." Asia Society Collections Management Policy, Section 4.4, Page 17 Sincerely, Adriana Proser John H. Foster Curator of Traditional Asian Art Asia Society, New York

Post new comment

Your comments are welcome, please adhere to our guidelines

Be respectful. Personal attacks will not be tolerated; nor will profane, abusive or threatening posts.

Keep it short (150 words or less), Stay on topic.

Asia Society reserves the right to moderate all comments and remove or edit for guideline violations. Thank you.

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Type the characters you see in this picture. (verify using audio)
Type the characters you see in the picture above; if you can't read them, submit the form and a new image will be generated. Not case sensitive.