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Lot 3081W
A LARGE SANDSTONE STELE OF SURYA NORTHERN INDIA, CIRCA 11TH CENTURY
19 March 2018, 15:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$492,500 inc. premium
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A LARGE SANDSTONE STELE OF SURYA
NORTHERN INDIA, CIRCA 11TH CENTURY
60 in. (152.4 cm) high
60 in. (152.4 cm) high
Footnotes
Identified by his characteristic boots, breast plate, and tall cylindrical crown, while wielding a beaming lotus in each hand, the stele is devoted to the Sun God Surya, whose cult at one time rivaled that of Shiva and Vishnu, and who became prominently incorporated into the iconographic program of the latter's temples.
Surya is dressed according to traditional conventions that depict him as a king. His 'northern' garb is thought to resemble that of Indo-Scythian tribesmen, like the Kushans, who ruled Northern India in the first centuries of the common era. It is also thought to reflect the influence of Iranian religious ideas on Indian sun worship. (Rosenfield, The Arts of India and Nepal, Boston, 1966, p.43.)
The near-complete stele depicts a full entourage accompanying the solar deity, with his wife, Ushas (the Dawn) immediately before him as the herald of each new day. Either side of his feet are Surya's clerk and measurer, Pingala and Danda, standing with complementary tribhangha poses. Immediately flanking them are two further wives of Surya, possibly the shapelier Sarenu, daughter of Heaven, and her shadow, Chaya (although his wives Rajni and Nikshubha are also possible). They are flanked by a pair of anthropomorphized horses, carrying Brahmanic waterpots and offering gestures of reassurance: possibly ayudha-purushas of his chariot's steeds.
As Dye once deftly noted, Surya's bold lotus blossoms and crisp lotus halo, "suggest both the sun itself and the boundless life it nurtures." (Dye III, The Arts of India, Richmond, 2001, p.136.). By Surya's elbows are Usha and Pratyusha, two archers defending dawn and dusk from the darkness. Framing his radiant lotus halo is a triangular arrangement of seated figures, possibly Surya's charioteers, with the central figure at the apex being Arjuna. He is flanked by eight standing diminutive figures, resembling the attributes and dress of Surya, perhaps a reminder of the Sun God's radiance throughout the eight cardinal and intermediate directions. A stele of Vishnu in the Norton Simon Museum has a similar radiating band of figures representing the planets along the top; see Pal, Art from the Indian Subcontinent, Pasadena, 2003, p.130, no.88.
The softly modeled facial features with lightly arching brows and narrow prominent lips, harkening back to Gupta prototypes, point to the regional style of Uttar Pradesh in Northern India. So too does the buff-to-reddish colored sandstone, the less extravagant array of necklaces and regalia (in comparison with neighboring Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh), and the treatment of the lotus halo with broad, plain leaves arranged in a circle, bordered by a rim with an intermediary beaded band. Compare these various idioms with examples attributed to Uttar Pradesh in Desai & Mason (eds.), Gods, Guardians, and Lovers, New York, 1993, pp.187-8, 244-7 & 262-3, nos.28, 62, & 70. Also see a Vamana in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (acc.#25.260)
Provenance
Rudi's of New York, Bloomington, Indiana, 1971
Private Collection
Carlton Rochell Asian Art, 21 March 2014
The Elizabeth and Willard Clark Collection, California