
Mark Rasmussen
International Director
This auction has ended. View lot details


Sold for US$16,250 inc. premium
Our Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialist
International Director
Bright orange accretions in recessed areas and a buttery patina with well-rubbed and raised edges suggest that, beyond its creation in the medieval Pala kingdom of Northeastern India, this bronze might have received an active and lengthy devotional career in Nepal. While much attention has been paid to the transmission of Buddhist sculptures and teachings between Indian monasteries and Tibet between the 10th and 12th centuries, Nepal's role as a geographic and artistic intermediary, and a recipient of Buddhist and Hindu traditions, has perhaps not been explored to its fullest – something that the indication of Nepalese devotion on this bronze prompts us to consider.
Compare the bronze stylistically, its size and slender proportions, to the central figure of a complete shrine in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, attributed c.1025, published in Pal, Indian Sculpture, Vol.2, Los Angeles, 1988, pp.201-2, no.100a. The present bronze also compares favorably to another example sold Sotheby's, New York, 4 June 1994, lot 104.
Provenance
Private New York Collection, acquired in New York, 1980s