{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O25020"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O25020/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019ME8853/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019ME8853/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019ME8853","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019ME8854","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AV4570","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC8163","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MG8532","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MG8533","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O25020/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O25020","accessionNumber":"IS.712-1883","objectType":"Capital","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Pillar capital in the form of a winged lion, made of carved sandstone from Mathura, Uttar Pradesh dating from the late 1st or early 2nd centuries AD during the Kushan period. The sculpture would have formed the capital of a pillar (<i>stambha</i>) framing the entrance to a sacred enclosure.  The curious form of the tail, usually given the form of an aquatic creature, here may be associated with a plough share, the attribute of the Hindu deity Balarama, whose origins appear to be as an agricultural deity.","physicalDescription":"Pillar capital in the form of a winged lion, made of carved sandstone. The lion with a curling mane has raised front paws and a double row of heavy twisted necklaces looped over the back of his mane and down over his chest. Behind the wings the body is carved in a broad, facetted loop sweeping up and forming a tail with a decorative band and ending in a point. In the dip of his back there is a shield-like shape decorated on one side with a chain motif border.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"sandstone","id":"AAT11376"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved sandstone ","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"}],"styles":[{"text":"Kushan","id":"AAT18886"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2019ME8853","2019ME8854","2006AV4570","2017KC8163","2019MG8532","2019MG8533"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"47C","id":"THES49795"},"free":"","case":"PL003","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Capital","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Mathura","id":"x34788"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"late 1st century-early 2nd century AD","earliest":"0050-01-01","latest":"0150-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Presented by Dr Turton.","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"93","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"14/03/2023","earliest":"2023-03-14","latest":"2023-03-14"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"21","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"14/03/2023","earliest":"2023-03-14","latest":"2023-03-14"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"109.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"14/03/2023","earliest":"2023-03-14","latest":"2023-03-14"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"261","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"20/04/2023","earliest":"2023-04-20","latest":"2023-04-20"},"part":"","note":"Includes the weight of wooden supports used to secure the object on a pallet but these would not add significantly to the weight."}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"The sculpture would have formed the capital of a pillar (<i>stambha</i>) framing the entrance to a sacred enclosure.  The winged griffin-type mythical creature is of west Asian inspiration. Its distinctive tapering tail resembling a plough may be linked to Balarama, an early Hindu warrior deity closely linked to Vasudeva-Vishnu whose origins appear to be that of an agricultural deity. If so, this pillar capital was presumably installed at the entrance to a Balarama shrine.","briefDescription":"Pillar Capital in the form of a Winged Lion,  Kushan, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India, late 1st and early 2nd Century AD","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"J.P. Vogel,' <i>La sculpture de Mathura</i>', <u>Art Asiatica</u> XV, 1930, Pl. XXV , pp. 105-6\n"},{"reference":{"text":"In the image of man : the Indian perception of the universe through 2000 years of painting and sculpture : [exhibition / organized by Catherine Lampert assisted by Rosalie Cass]. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson :in association with the Arts Council of Great Britain, 1982 Number: 0297780719, 0297781243 (pbk.)","id":"AUTH339940"},"details":"p. 102, cat. no. 29","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Irwin, John C., Indian Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1968","id":"AUTH348144"},"details":"pl. 2","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Orientations; vol. 40. no. 4; May 2009; The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum.\r\nJohn Guy; Adoring the Stupa, Adoring the Buddha:  Kushan Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum p. 46"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Orientations; vol. 40. no. 4; May 2009; The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum.\r\nJohn Guy; Adoring the Stupa, Adoring the Buddha:  Kushan Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, p. 46"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"N. Joshi, Iconography of Balarama, 1979, Pl. 6\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"S. Czuma, Kushan Sculpture, Cleveland, Ohio, Clevelend Museum of Art, 1985, p.61\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"H. Hartel, in South Asian Archaeology, 1985"},{"reference":{"text":"Guy, John <i>Indian temple sculpture </i>. London: V&A Publications, 2007","id":"AUTH339668"},"details":"p. 23","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Guy, John S. <i>Tree and Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India,</i> Metropolitian Museum of Art, New York. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2023.","id":"AUTH411627"},"details":"pp. 173-174","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"Hinduism","id":"AAT73727"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Capital in the Shape of a Winged Lion\r\n\r\n100–200 \r\nKushan period \r\n\r\nThis was the capital of a pillar framing the entrance to \r\na sacred enclosure, perhaps a shrine to the Hindu deity \r\nBalarama.The tail seems to be shaped like a ploughshare,\r\nthe attribute of Balarama, who may originally have been \r\nan agricultural deity. \r\n\r\nSandstone \r\nNorthern India (Mathura, Uttar Pradesh) \r\n\r\n\r\nMuseum no. IS.712-1883 \r\n\r\n","date":{"text":"06/06/2011","earliest":"2011-06-06","latest":"2011-06-06"}}],"partNumbers":["IS.712-1883"],"accessionNumberNum":"712","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":1883,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2023NL6251","2023NL6257","2023NL8692","2023NN7353"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-07-14","recordCreationDate":"2000-02-13","availableToBook":false}}