India, Mathura, Kushan period / 150–200 CE
Gateway Bracket
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Gateway Bracket as sculpture (India, Mathura, Kushan period · 150–200 CE).
Gateways leading into a sacred area often had large horizontal architraves, the weight of which was supported by brackets carved with figures of voluptuous women grasping the branch of a tree. They embody the ideal form of the young mother, with breasts full of nourishing milk.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this sculpture as sandstone.
The museum's collection notes: Gateways leading into a sacred area often had large horizontal architraves, the weight of which was supported by brackets carved with figures of voluptuous women grasping the branch of a tree. They embody the ideal form of the young mother, with breasts full of nourishing milk. As personifications of the sap that pervades living plants, they are auspicious markers of life and abundance. These attractive figures, who embody the purifying water essential for life, symbolically cleanse visitors as they enter the sacred space. On both sides of this large bracket they grasp the branch of an ashoka tree, which has clusters of flowers that are brigh
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The Cleveland Museum of ArtGateway BracketOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.