About the Artwork
The Hindu god Shiva possesses contrasting characteristics that help believers understand a key Hindu principle: that opposing forces in the universe are intimately linked.
He has the dreadlocks of someone who has renounced the material world, but a bejeweled headdress holds them in place. Mismatched earrings, one long and curved, the other round, symbolize Shiva’s embodiment of both male and female qualities. One of his four hands holds an axe to cut through ignorance, while another is raised peacefully in reassurance. In a third hand, Shiva holds an antelope to convey that he is lord of all creatures, associating him with the material world — yet he is also a transcendent god. The crescent moon in his hair symbolizes the passage of time, yet as an eternal being, Shiva exists beyond temporal limitations.
Made of metal — a more portable medium than stone — this sculpture would have been carried in grand processions that brought Shiva out of his temple, giving believers a chance to connect with the god through the powerful act of looking.
Shiva with the Moon in his Crown
11th century
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Indian
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Copper alloy
Overall: 18 1/4 × 11 × 4 inches (46.4 × 27.9 × 10.2 cm) Installed: 21 7/8 × 11 × 4 1/2 inches (55.6 × 27.9 × 11.4 cm)
Sculpture
Asian Art
Founders Society Purchase, Acquisitions Fund
80.38
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
(Peter Marks, New York, New York, USA);1980-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Pal, Pratapaditya. "The Moon-Crested God and Related Images." Bulletin of the DIA 59, no. 2/3 (1981): pp. 77-84; p. 76 (ill.).
Bulletin of the DIA 59, no. 4 (1981): p. 112 (ill.).
Kramrisch, Stella. Manifestations of Shiva. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1981, p. 108, no. 88, (ill.).
Mitchell, S.W. "The Asian Collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts." Orientations 13, no. 5 (May 1982): pp. 14-36, (fig. 23).
Peter Marks Gallery, 25th Anniversary: 25 Selcted Works. 1985, (ill.).
The Detroit Institute of Arts: A Visitor's Guide. Detroit, 1995, p. 148, (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Indian, Shiva with the Moon in his Crown, 11th century, copper alloy. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Acquisitions Fund, 80.38.
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