{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O13736"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O13736/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MW3498/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MW3498/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021MW3498","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BH6432","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O13736/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O13736","accessionNumber":"IS.145-1999","objectType":"Relief","titles":[{"title":"Relief","type":"Generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"A small modelled terracotta panel depicting a couple engaged in energetic love-making. The woman reclines on a bed, holding her spread legs whilst the man stands as he enters her. Both figures are youthful and athletic and wear their hair tied in off-set buns, characteristic of Sunga-period fashion; both also wear large ear-plug ornaments, again a recognised accoutrement of the period. The scene is set in a interior space, with Sunga-period crenelations visible on the upper wall, reminiscent of details seen on the railing coping stones of the Buddhist stupa site of Bharhut. \r\n\r\nErotic clay reliefs are a important category of early Indian terracottas and may be assumed to have been intended to give expression to early notions of fertility cults. The woman's posture, with exposed genitalia, persisted as the cult image of the goddess cult in the early medieval period, where the icon was often represented as only the female genitalia and the body replaced by a flower-head. Early erotic terracottas of this type probably represent the genesis of the Lajja Gauri cult image.","physicalDescription":"Relief with an erotic scene","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"terracotta","id":"AAT10669"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Terracotta","categories":[{"text":"Reliefs","id":"THES49035"}],"styles":[{"text":"Kushan","id":"AAT18886"},{"text":"Sunga","id":"AAT18880"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2021MW3498","2006BH6432"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES374310"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Relief","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Uttar Pradesh","id":"x29845"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1st century-2nd century","earliest":"0001-01-01","latest":"0200-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"7.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"8.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased from Danny Biancardi, beneficiary of the estate of his father Alex Biancardi.\r\nThe purchase was made possible with the assistance of Jean-Michel Beurdeley, Fausta and John Eskenazi, Alexander Gotz, Henry Ginsburg, Jonathan Hope, Peter Marks, Anna-Maria and Fabio Rossi, Spink and Son Ltd, Tom and Danielle White, Doris Wiener and an anonymous donor. \r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Relief with an erotic scene, terracotta, Uttar Pradesh, north India, 1st-2nd century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"L'escultura en el temples indis : l'art de la devoció : exposició organitzada per la Fundació \"La Caixa\" i el Victoria & Albert Museum, Londres. [Barcelona: Obra social, Fundació \"la Caixa\", c2007 Number: 9788476649466","id":"AUTH339669"},"details":"p.52, Cat.8","free":""}],"production":"Uttar Pradesh, north India","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"RELIEF WITH EROTIC\r\nSCENE\r\nTerracotta\nUttar Pradesh, north-central\nIndia\nKushan dynasty\ncirca 1st century AD\n\nIS.145-1999\r\n","date":{"text":"25/09/2000","earliest":"2000-09-25","latest":"2000-09-25"}}],"partNumbers":["IS.145-1999"],"accessionNumberNum":"145","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":1999,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU0093"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-05","recordCreationDate":"1999-12-15","availableToBook":false}}