A Votive Figurine

Description This figure, the oldest example of Indian art on view at The Walters Art Museum, was probably placed flat on her back as an offering at a village shrine. Her wide hips and fantastic floral headdress suggest that the donor hoped to become a mother or to gather an abundant harvest.

Exhibitions

• Desire and Devotion: Art from India, Nepal, and Tibet in the John and Berthe Ford Collection. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara; Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque. 2001-2003.

Provenance Doris Wiener, New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; John and Berthe Ford, Baltimore, [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 2003, by gift.

Credit Gift of John and Berthe Ford, 2003