Figurines from Patna in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2023

Title: Female figurine

Period: Maurya

Date: 3rd–2nd century BCE

Culture: India, Patna, Bihar

Medium: Clay

Dimensions: Overall (with mount): H. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm); W. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm); D. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm)

Classification: Sculpture

Credit Line: Lent by Bihar Museum, Patna

Object Number: TS.376b

These clay figures emerge during a moment when northern India was reveling in its cosmopolitanism, built on trade, diplomacy, and marriage alliances under Mauryan rule. The refined and unparalleled style of these figurines and their localized discovery point to them as objects of beauty for the enjoyment of an urban elite centered at the Mauryan capital of Pataliputra.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/819125


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Title: Female figurine

Period: Maurya

Date: 3rd–2nd century BCE

Culture: India, Patna, Bihar

Medium: Clay

Dimensions: Overall (with mount): H. 7 in. (17.8 cm); W. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm); D. 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)

Classification: Sculpture

Credit Line: Lent by Bihar Museum, Patna

Object Number: TS.376a

These clay figures emerge during a moment when northern India was reveling in its cosmopolitanism, built on trade, diplomacy, and marriage alliances under Mauryan rule. The refined and unparalleled style of these figurines and their localized discovery point to them as objects of beauty for the enjoyment of an urban elite centered at the Mauryan capital of Pataliputra.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/819128