Terracotta sculpture of a Monkey

body

This is a three-legged terracotta figurine. The face, which is slightly raised, resembles that of a monkey, and the head appears bald. It stands almost upright on its two hind limbs, while the two forelimbs are at its sides. There is a tail-like structure at the back. The limbs are short and stumpy, and the digits are not marked. 

The figurine belongs to the 5th century CE, termed the Gupta period (240-570 CE) or the classical age of India, which was witness to an outburst of activity in the different spheres. The introduction of stone and brick religious structures, in turn, gave a fillip to the production of terracottas, which came to be produced on such a large scale that terracotta manufacture was given a specific technical term and came to be known as 'lepya-karma'. Four different techniques were employed to make the terracotta which included the usage of a single mould, a double mould, partly moulded and partly hand-made, and completely hand-made. This figure appears to be entirely hand-made and is thus crude and unrefined, as opposed to those made from moulds.