Bracket Figure (Madanakai) (Primary Title)
Unknown (Artist)
This lively sculpture of a dancing woman accompanied by two small musicians is an ornate bracket from a south Indian temple. It would have extended at an angle from the upper portions of a column, helping to support either the ceiling or a projecting eave on the building's exterior. Known as madanakais ("enchanting arms"), most of these elaborate brackets depict enchanting women, either as musicians or dancers, or at their toilet. They appear in groups on Hindu temples in the southern Deccanbeginning in the late eleventh century. Because they used relatively soft and very fine-grained stones, sculptors in the region and period were able to create profuse intricate detail, deep undercutting, and dramatic openwork.
Hoysala
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund
Dye, Joseph M. The Arts of India: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. London: Philipp Wilson, 2001. (cat. no. 63, p. 176)
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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