India, Uttar Pradesh, 1100/12
Siva
Red Sandstone
18 3/4 x 10 3/4 x 5 inches
Gift of the Jaipaul Family, 2001.
2001.022.005

This sandstone relief sculpture of the Hindu god Siva was originally part of a temple and would have been covered with white gesso. It was made in northern India in the twelfth century, during the Medieval period of Hindu art, a time when some of the greatest temples and carvings were created. Siva carries one of his attributes, the trident (now broken). His powerful third eye, placed vertically on his forehead, is barely visible here as a change in the texture of the stone.