Day 109 - Jain sculpture

December 12, 2018

Today's visit leads me to yet another Met discovery, or rather, a gallery I knew was there but had somehow never looked at on previous visits to the South Asian collection. Gallery 243, up a short flight of stairs from the main collection, contains reassembled architectural elements from a Jain meeting and prayer hall in Gujarat -- three side walls, each perhaps 15 feet long and supporting a balcony (the restorers left out the fourth wall  to let light in for easier museum viewing), and a domed ceiling.  Made of teakwood and constructed in the last quarter of the 16th century. these elements are carved with fantastically elaborate designs. On the lower register of two of the walls, for example, a procession of ducks or geese flanks either side of the balcony support; above that, there are small human figures separated by columns; and above that, there is a row of geometric elements that may represent flowers or urns.  On the third wall, a central figure sits in a cross-legged yogic pose surrounded by attendants. The carvings also include grills of various designs. The caption tells me that  early Gujarati woodcarving was translated into stone at Fatehpur Sikri and the Red Fort at Agra by craftsmen employed by the Mughal emperor Akbar.  It also notes that remnants of pigment suggest that the wood might have been painted; I'm reminded of the brilliantly colored Hindu temples I saw in southern India.  

It's nice to know that the complex wasn't wrested from its original site, but rather, assembled from materials discarded when the structure was renovated in the early 20th century. Private donors gave it to the Met in 1916. 

I'm not alone in finding the gallery, of course. A few other people also climb the steps and, like me, are completely wowed. But it could be overlooked so easily amidst all the Met's treasure

Today's object, though, is one I chose to brag on myself just a little: With all that I don't know, I do know something.  Situated on the stairway that leads to the Jain meeting hall, it's a copper alloy statue of a nude man, perhaps 26 inches high, from  Karnataka in the Deccan and dating back to the 12th century. The minute I see it, I think,  "That is definitely Jain," and I'm pleased when the caption confirms that I'm right. Of course, if you know anything at all about South Asian art, you'll recognize the distinct simplicity of Jain images, but still....  In fact, the figure lacks the lavish adornments of the Hindu gods in part because he is a tirthankara, one of 24 people considered in Jainism to have attained enlightenment through meditation, asceticism, and withdrawal from the material life. His nudity, unlike that of so many representations of Hindu goddesses, has nothing sexual about it; presumably, in his asceticism, he has rejected clothing.  For some reason, I'm struck by the semicircles of lines below his navel and surrounding his neck. I suppose they indicate that he is not in the flush of youth. Perhaps to achieve wisdom you need to be a certain age. I have some of those lines, but oh, to have more of the wisdom....