Brown figure of a lion with an upturned paw and a hollow space in the back
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A brown bronze statue resembling a lion stands on three legs, with its front right leg raised upwards, its paw faced outwards in front of it. There are small holes directly beneath extruding lines curving up its long neck. The figure’s mouth is slightly open, in which there are four pointed teeth and a long thin tongue hanging out. Short horns curve behind its head, as well as small pointed ears. Its body is thicker in the front and back, and thinner in the middle. The figure is hollowed out in an opening in its back and the back of its neck.

Gallery Text

With curving horns and bulging eyes, this vessel is cast in the form of a mythical lion known as a yali. A persistent motif with protective associations in South Asian art, the yali can be found in Jain painting and Hindu sculpture—for example, the nearby relief of the goddess Chamunda. On this bronze figure, the yali merges with a traditionally Islamic form—the animal-shaped incense burner. Placed within the yali’s hollow body, burning incense would have been covered by a back lid (missing), forcing the perfumed smoke to exit through the open mouth and the holes ringing the chest like a necklace.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1964.44
Title
Incense burner in the form of a lion
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
15th century
Places
Creation Place: South Asia, India, Deccan
Period
Sultanate period
Culture
Indian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/216562

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2590, South Asian Art, South Asia in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Cast bronze
Technique
Cast
Dimensions
17.46 x 13.97 x 6.67 cm (6 7/8 x 5 1/2 x 2 5/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Oscar Meyer Antiques, Los Angeles, CA? (by 1964), sold; to Fogg Art Museum, 1964.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Friends of the Fogg Art Museum Fund
Accession Year
1964
Object Number
1964.44
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This incense burner combines the Indian sculptural tradition and the Islamic tradition of zoomorphic incense burners. To judge from two similar objects which have survived, this one would have stood on a circular platform with its raised paw resting on the head of a small elephant. The lid, which would have covered its back, is also missing. The incense would have been placed in the lion's body, and perfumed smoke would have been released from the holes in its chest, resembling beads on necklaces, and through its mouth, around its movable tongue. Notes from the Glory and Prosperity exhibition, Feb - June 2002.

Publication History

  • Stuart Cary Welch, India, Art and Culture, 1300-1900, exh. cat., Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY, 1985), Page 131-132/Figure 76
  • Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 53

Exhibition History

  • Birds, Beasts and Calligraphies, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/11/1981 - 09/29/1981
  • Indian Art During the Mughals, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/12/1986 - 05/18/1986
  • Islamic Art: The Power of Pattern, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/23/1989 - 01/17/1990
  • Overlapping Realms: Arts of the Islamic World and India, 900-1900, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 12/02/2006 - 03/23/2008
  • Re-View: Arts of India & the Islamic Lands, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/26/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 2590 South and Southeast Asia, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Collection Highlights
  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu