each cast with naturalistic details, adorned with elaborate jewellery comprising multiple necklaces, arm bands, festooned sashes around waists with central kirtimukha
the larger 25.5 x 11.7 cm.; 262 g. total weight(2)

Footnotes

Provenance: Private English collection.

Exclusively intended for images of gods and goddesses in temples, these body coverings are known as kavacham in South India. The term kavacham literally means 'shield'. These silver kavacham would have provided a rich covering for the stone or bronze images of the deities. The kavacham is usually fashioned in the naturalistic form of the body to give the impression of the deities either seated or standing in various postures. Intricately worked in relief, minute details of clothing and jewellery on the kavacham provide a valuable insight into contemporary fashions. Once the kavacham had been fitted onto the image of the deity, they would have been decorated with flowers and jewels and then carried around in procession around the temple.
For a comparable pair of kavacham made from sheet gold, see Icons in Gold - Jewelry of India from the Collection of the Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva, 2005, Exhibition Catalogue, no. 2 & 3, pp. 100 - 103; and a pair in silver from the same collection sold through these rooms, Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 8th October 2013, lot 296.

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A pair of silver Body Coverings (Kavacham) South India, 19th Century(2)

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A pair of silver Body Coverings (Kavacham) South India, 19th Century

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A pair of silver Body Coverings (Kavacham)
South India, 19th Century
(2)

A pair of silver Body Coverings (Kavacham)
South India, 19th Century