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Browse Items in Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting (166 total)
Female dancers and musicians
Description: At the Anuradhapura Archaeological Museum is this stone frieze, of female dancers. This relief carving probably adorned a Hindu shrine of the late Polonnaruva period.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Naginis (cobra women) with musical instruments
Description: This is an artist’s conception of how the Buddha was protected from the rains by a nagaraja (a cobra king) in the sixth week after his enlightenment. The naga women display their devotion by playing various musical instruments. A chance find of the late Mr. Osmond de Silva, the stone plaque is now with his wife, Mrs. Ena de Silva at Matale. The carving may be attributed to the Polonnaruva period.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
A female dancer and male musicians
Description: On the exterior face of the stone wall on either side of the main staircase of the central structure at Yapahuva, (Sri Lanka) identified as a temple or a palace, is a frieze of musicians and dancers. Dated to the 13th century, the female dancers here display very vigorous and lively dance forms. The drummers are males.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Composite figures of female dancers at Yapahuva (Sri Lanka)
Description: Composite figures of dancers such as this relief from Yapahuva, Sri Lanka are known as ‘Puttu’, where a number of dancers share common limbs. These stone carvings are seen on either side of the main stairways at Yapahuva, Sri Lanka.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Female dancers playing musical instruments at Yapahuva (Sri Lanka)
Description: These 4 female dancers, also from Yapahuva, play musical instruments while they dance.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Female dancers on ornamental windows
Description: On either side of the entrance porch at Yapahuva are two ornamental windows in which female dancers are used as decorative motifs. The stone window with this and other decorative motifs is presently stored in the Yapahuva Archaeological Museum.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Female drummers and dancers
Description: Of a somewhat later date, but belonging to the same art tradition as at Yapahuva, Sri Lanka, are the relief carvings of drummers and dancers at the Ganegoda temple in Alavatura in the Kegalle district, Sri Lanka. These sculptures can be dated to the 14th century.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Female dancers at a Buddhist temple
Description: Common to many Buddhist temples of the post-Polonnaruva period is a procession of dancers and musicians carved in relief between the plinth and mouldings of the shrine. This frieze of female dancers is from the 14th century temple at Gadaladeniya near Gampola.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Female dancers at a Buddhist temple
Description: This is a frieze of female dancers from the Niyangampaya temple, close to Gampola in Kandy District.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Male and female dancers and musicians at a Buddhist temple
Description: Dancers and musicians, both male and female are a familiar decorative device used to embellish door-frames in the post-Polonnaruva period. An extremely good example belonging to the 14th century A.D. can be seen at the Galapatha Vihare near Bentota in Galle (District) Sri Lanka.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
