The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 24, 2024

Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan

Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan

c. 600
Overall: 203.1 x 68 x 55.5 cm (79 15/16 x 26 3/4 x 21 7/8 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Gold earrings were once fastened to the sculpture using holes in the figure's earlobes.

Description

This masterwork of early Cambodian sculpture shows the Hindu god Krishna effortlessly holding aloft a mountain to protect his fellow villagers and herds from torrential storms sent by a jealous old god. It is one of eight monumental monolithic figures recovered from a two-peaked mountain in the floodplains of the Mekong River delta, on the outskirts of the ancient urban center of Angkor Borei.
  • c. 1910–1920
    Léonce Rosenberg [1879–1947], Paris, France
    1920–1949
    Adolphe Stoclet [1871–1949], Palais Stoclet, Brussels, Belgium
    1949–1967
    Michèle Leon-Stoclet [1932–1967], Brussels, Belgium, and Barcelona, Spain
    1973–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Sotheby Mak van Waay B.V., Amsterdam. Collection Léonce Rosenberg, Paris, deuxième et dernière partie, Vente Publique. Le Mardi 1 Juin 1920. Lot 214.
    Groslier, George. Arts et archéologie Khmers: Revue des recherches sur les arts, les monuments et l'ethnographie du Cambodge depuis les origines jusqu'à nos jours. 2, 2. Paris: Sté des éd. géographiques, maritimes et coloniales, 1924. Mentioned: [no page number], descriptive caption facing Pl. XXX
    Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. History of Indian and Indonesian Art. New York: E Weyhe, 1927. p. 183
    Goloubew, Victor. Documents pour servir à l'étude d'Ajanta; les peintures de la première grotte. Paris et Bruxelles: G. Vanoest, 1927. p. 415
    Parmentier, Henri. L'art khmèr primitif. Paris: G. Vanoest, 1927. Mentioned and Reproduced: vol. 1, p. 121 and fig. 84
    Fischer, Otto. Die Kunst Indiens, Chinas und Japans. Berlin: Propyläen-Verlag, 1928. p. 226
    Cuisinier, Jeanne. “Collections of Oriental Art in Belgium,” Indian Art and Letters New Series, Vol II, no. 2. London: The India Society, Second issue for 1928. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 81 and Plate E
    De Coral Rémusat, Gilberte. “L'activité Archéologique Dans L'Inde Extérieure.” Revue Des Arts Asiatiques, vol. 10, no. 4, 1936, pp. 211–226. Mentioned: pp. 225-226 www.jstor.org
    Cœdès, George. Inscriptions du Cambodge. Paris: E. de Boccard, 1937. Mentioned: Vol. II, p. 156
    Visser, H. F. E. Asiatic Art in Private Collections of Holland and Belgium. Amsterdam: "De Spieghel" Pub. Co, 1948. Reproduced: pl. 198, no. 338, pp. 76-77, 476-477
    Briggs, Lawrence Palmer. The Ancient Khmer Empire. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1951. p. 36
    Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India: Buddhist, Hindu [and] Jain. [Baltimore]: Penguin Books, 1954. Mentioned and Reproduced: plate 155, p. 227
    Dupont, Pierre. La statuaire préangkorienne. Ascona, Suisse: Artibus Asiae, 1955. Mentioned: pp. 40-41; Reproduced: Plate V-A
    “The Year in Review for 1973.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 61, no. 2, 1974, pp. 30–79. Reproduced: p. 30; Mentioned: no. 182, p. 31 and 79 25152513
    Czuma, Stanislaw. “A Masterpiece of Early Cambodian Sculpture.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 61, no. 4, 1974, pp. 119–127. Reproduced: pp. 117-127 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 316 archive.org
    Schwartzberg, Joseph E., and Shiva G. Bajpai. A Historical Atlas of South Asia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. Reproduced: pl. II.D.6 30. Mentioned: p. 185
    Pal, Pratapaditya. The Ideal Image: The Gupta Sculptural Tradition and Its Influence. [New York]: Asia Society in association with J. Weatherhill, 1978. Reproduced: p. 19, fig. 3
    Czuma, Stanislaw. "The Case of the Buried Fragments." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Vol. 66, No. 7 (Oct., 1979), pp. 288-295. Mentioned: pp. 288-295; Reproduced: fig. 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10A-D, and back cover www.jstor.org
    Turner, Evan H. Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. p. 179
    Lee, Sherman E. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994. Reproduced: p. 265, fig. 328
    Jessup, Helen Ibbitson, and Thierry Zephir. Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1997. Reproduced: fig. 1, p. 160
    Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Reproduced: pp. 160-161
    Czuma, Stanislaw J. "The Cleveland Museum's Krsna Govardhana and the Early Phnom Da Style of Cambodian Sculpture," Ars Orientalis supplement [Chāchājī; Professor Walter M. Spink Felicitation Volume]. 2000 supplement, pp. 127-135. Reproduced: p. 127, fig. 1; p. 128, fig. 3.
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: no. 102, p. 92; Mentioned: p. 119
    Fontein, Jan. Chinese works of art from the Stoclet collection: 25 March-5 April 2003 : exhibition in New York at PaceWildenstein. London: Eskenazi, 2003. Reproduced: fig. 1, p. 6
    Lavy, Paul Andrew. Viṣṇu and Harihara in the Art and Politics of Early Historic Southeast Asia. PhD diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2004. Mentioned: p. 228
    Jessup, Helen Ibbitson. Art & Architecture of Cambodia. New York: Thames & Hudson Inc., 2004. Reproduced: p. 28, fig. 21; Mentioned: pp. 28-29
    Czuma, Stanislaw, "Great Acquisitions and Southeast Asian Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art," Orientations, An Issue in Honour of Sherman E. Lee (Jan/Feb 2005), vol. 36, no. 1. Reproduced: p. 82
    Channing, Laurence, "Before Neo: The May Show", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 45 no. 07, September 2005 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 12-13 archive.org
    Czuma, Stanislaw J. "A Quest for the Best: The Enduring Legacy of Sherman E. Lee," Orientations vol. 40, no. 5. Reproduced: p. 37, fig. 3
    Dumoulin, Michel. Les Stoclet: microcosme d'ambitions et de passions. Bruxelles: Le Cri, 2011. p. 316
    Franklin, David, and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: pp. 64-65
    Guy, John, and Pierre Baptiste. Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia. New York, N.Y.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned: pp. 146-149, cat. no. 72; Reproduced: p. 148
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 214–215
    Narayanan, Vasudha. “The Hero at Play: Depictions of the Govardhana-Laia story in Khmer art.” Journal of Vaishnava Studies. Vol. 23, no. 2 (Spring 2015), pp. 131-147. Mentioned: pp. 134, 142
    Porte, Bertrand. “Sculptures Transformées, Du Phnom Da Au Núi Ba Thê.” Arts Asiatiques, vol. 71, 2016, pp. 141–158. Reproduced: fig. 13 www.jstor.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 35
    Revire, Nicholas. “Dvaravatı and Zhenla in the seventh to eighth centuries: A transregional ritual complex" Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 47(3), pp 393–417. Reproduced: fig. 4.4
    "Cleveland Museum of Art Embarks on Radical Reconstruction of Cambodian Krishna Statue." Western Association for Art Conservation. Newsletter. 40:1 (January 2018): 28. Mentioned: p. 28
    Coe, Michael D., and Damian Evans. Angkor and the Khmer Civilization. [New York, NY]: Thames & Hudson, 2018. Reproduced: p. 96, fig. 26
    Bassoul, Aziz. Splendour of Khmer Iconography: Ancient Cambodian Art of the 5th to the 13th Centuries in Major World Museums and Private Collections. Beirut: Cedar of Lebanon Editions, 2018. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 120-121, no. 53
    Coe, Michael D. and Damian Evans. Angkor and the Khmer Civilization. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2018. Reproduced and Mentioned: no. 26, pp. 96, 298
    Mace, Sonya Rhie. "Restorations and Reconstructions: Cambodian Art to and from Cleveland." Arts of Asia 48, no. 3 (May-June 2018): 57–67. Reproduced: p. 57, fig. 1
    Boyd, Bentley. "Exhibitions in 2020." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 60, no. 1 (January/February 2020): 15-17. Reproduced: P. 17; Mentioned: P. 15.
    Mace, Sonya Rhie Mace. “The Cleveland Krishna: A masterwork inspires new technologies and international collaboration.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 4 (Fall 2021): 4–8. Reproduced: p. 5; Mentioned: pp. 4–8
    Edelstein, Beth. “Conserving Krishna: A seven-year restoration project reveals stunning results.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 4 (Fall 2021): 9–10. Reproduced: p. 9; Mentioned: pp. 9–10
    Alexander, Jane. "A Virtual Polish for an Ancient Masterwork.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 4 (Fall 2021): 11–15. Reproduced: p. 12; Mentioned: pp. 11–15
    Mace, Sonya Rhie, Bertrand Porte, Choulean ANG, Pierre Baptiste, CHEA Socheat, Thierry Zéphir, Christian Fischer, Beth Edelstein, Collen Snyder, and Amaris Sturm. Revealing Krishna: Essays on the History, Context and Conservationof Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan from Phnom Da. Lewes, UK: D Giles Limited; Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2021. Reproduced: Cover, p. 14, p. 25, pl.6, p. 32, fig. 1, p. 35, fig. 2, p. 50, fig. 16, p. 51, fig. 17, p. 53, fig. 18, p. 60, fig. 20, p. 61, fig. 21, p. 72, fig. 31, pp. 82-83, figs. 39-40, p. 104, fig. 63
    "Krishna Govardhana: A Journey to Cambodia." The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries 26 November 2021. asianartnewspaper.com
  • Revealing Krishna: Journey to Cambodia’s Sacred Mountain. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 14, 2021-January 30, 2022); National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC (April 30-September 18, 2022) https://asia.si.edu/exhibition/revealing-krishna-journey-to-the-sacred-mountain/.
    Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009).
  • {{cite web|title=Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan|url=false|author=|year=c. 600|access-date=24 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1973.106