1994.49 Head with crown | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

This head is possibly part of a figure that once adorned the exterior of a temple in northern India, probably in the northern part of Madhya Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh states. The tall crown is similar to the one worn by the deity Vishnu, although in the absence of other features, it is not possible to determine the identity of this figure. The date of the work, about the 15th or 16th century, provides an important reminder that Hindu temples continued to be made even during periods when Muslim kings ruled large parts of India. Often it is imagined that a sense of Muslim iconoclasm dominated the period, that Hindu temples were routinely desecrated, and that there was no new temple construction. However, some Muslim rulers, for example the Mughal monarch Akbar (1556-1605), sponsored the construction of Hindu temples and commissioned the translation of Sanskrit epics.

Adapted from

"Male Head with Crown," File on TAZ.

NOTES

Catalogue essays

The Arts of India, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas at the Dallas Museum of Art

Artist/designers

Cultures

Geography

Process/materials

Historical periods

Mughal Empire (1526-1858)

Individuals

Subject terms

Hinduism

Islam

RELATED OBJECTS

PROVENANCE

1994: Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Alta Brenner in memory of her daughter Andrea Bernice Brenner-McMullen

Notes:

The main source for this provenance is the Deed of Gift in the Collections Records object file.

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apply to objects where number equals 1994.49

General Description

This head is possibly part of a figure that once adorned the exterior of a temple in northern India, probably in the northern part of Madhya Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh states. The tall crown is similar to the one worn by the deity Vishnu, although in the absence of other features, it is not possible to determine the identity of this figure. The date of the work, about the 15th or 16th century, provides an important reminder that Hindu temples continued to be made even during periods when Muslim kings ruled large parts of India. Often it is imagined that a sense of Muslim iconoclasm dominated the period, that Hindu temples were routinely desecrated, and that there was no new temple construction. However, some Muslim rulers, for example the Mughal monarch Akbar (1556-1605), sponsored the construction of Hindu temples and commissioned the translation of Sanskrit epics.