
Mark Rasmussen
International Director
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Sold for US$27,575 inc. premium
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International Director

Head of Sale, Specialist
This rare bronze depicts the only woman among the twelve South Indian Vaishnavite poet-saints (alwars). Andal, also known as Godadevi, gazes forward with a gentle smile. A diagnostic parrot perches on her raised right hand, while her left lightly touches the shoulder of an acolyte.
Her pleasing, round face and accentuated curves are indicative of the mature Chola style. Shell-like locks of hair adorn her forehead, and she is luxuriously clad by contrast to her simply dressed attendant who carries a box under her arm. (See a box of this distinctive South Indian shape sold at Bonhams, New York, 18 September 2013, lot 99.) A later Chola example of Andal is preserved in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.87.181), and a 15th-century example was sold at Christie's, New York, 20 March 2019, lot 637.
Provenance
Collection of Siddharth K. Bhansali, New Orleans
Acquired in London between 1978-83