恩爱夫妻（Mithuna） - 美国大都会艺术博物馆展品查阅

品名（中）	恩爱夫妻（Mithuna）
品名（英）	Loving Couple (Mithuna)
入馆年号	1970年，1970.44
策展部门	亚洲艺术（Asian Art）
创作者
创作年份	公元 1200 - 公元 1299
创作地区
分类	雕塑（Sculpture）
尺寸	高 72 英寸 (182.9 厘米)
介绍（中）	印度教寺庙通常被设想为世界的中轴线，以神居住的山的形式出现。因此，寺庙本身受到崇拜。这是通过绕行（在外部行走，在这种情况下是逆时针方向）和观察其小的内部圣殿来完成的。寺庙的外部通常覆盖着无数的浮雕：一些描绘了神在内部或相关神灵中的方面;其他人则代表了这座山的神话居民。从早期开始，神灵和圣人的标志性表现就被吉祥的图像所增强，例如美丽的女人，音乐家和恩爱的夫妇（mithunas）。曾经是寺庙立面的辅助装饰的一部分，这对珠宝夫妇的身影拥抱着，同时狂热地凝视着对方的眼睛。它们的全身和广泛而详细的特征是十三世纪奥里萨邦产生的建筑雕塑的特征，奥里萨邦是印度东北部的一个地区，以其寺庙而闻名，特别是那些建于十至十三世纪的寺庙，通常以惊人的杂技和色情姿势的人物来区分。像这样的夫妇被认为具有多种含义，从对生活乐趣的明显庆祝到人类灵魂渴望与神结合的更具隐喻性的象征意义。
介绍（英）	A Hindu temple was often envisioned as the world's central axis, in the form of a mountain inhabited by a god. The temple itself was therefore worshipped. This was done by circumambulation (walking around the exterior, in this case in a counterclockwise direction) and by viewing its small inner sanctum. The outside of the temple was usually covered with myriad reliefs: some portrayed aspects of the god within or related deities; others represented the mountain's mythological inhabitants. From early times, iconic representations of deities and holy figures were augmented by auspicious images, such as beautiful women, musicians, and loving couples (mithunas). Once part of the subsidiary decoration of a temple facade, the figures of this bejeweled couple embrace while peering rapturously into each other's eyes. Their full bodies and broad, detailed features are characteristic of architectural sculptures produced in thirteenth-century Orissa, a region in northeast India that was noted for its temples, particularly those built from the tenth through the thirteenth century, often distinguished by figures in astonishingly acrobatic and erotic poses. Couples such as this pair are understood to have multiple meanings, ranging from an obvious celebration of life's pleasures to the more metaphorical symbolism of a human soul's longing for union with the divine.