New Perspectives on Religious Art through the Digital Twin: Two Stelae of Pārvatī from East India

Collections in museums commonly provide one's initial encounter with actual works of religious art, not only for general visitors but also for students of Asian art, and these collections often remain a major source for many scholars throughout their careers.This circumstance, together with the availability of museum objects, largely shapes our perceptions of Asian art.Although museums offer an ideal environment for research and the conservation of art, we may easily forget the original goals of art-making.Objects of religious art-in the present context, East Indian sculptures from the Pāla period 1 -were created for worship, not for analysis through the lens of the art historian in a museum, where they appear completely detached from their native cultural environment.In what follows, two stelae will be showcased and their disparate settings of use and preservation will be compared.The removal of the original architectural and ritual context in both cases, as well as the partial loss of a sense of historical storytelling based on the complicated biography of each object, raises questions of authenticity.2 This discussion will touch upon a technical solution by means of interactive digital models known as digital twins and address the benefits and limitations of the method.