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Lot 184

Two gold body coverings (kavacham)
Tamil Nadu, South India, 19th/ 20th Century
(2)

25 October 2021, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £12,750 inc. premium

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Two gold body coverings (kavacham)
Tamil Nadu, South India, 19th/ 20th Century

each cast with naturalistic details, adorned with elaborate jewellery comprising necklaces, arm bands, festooned with sashes around the waists with kirtimukha, tested as 20 and 21 carat gold respectively
the larger 17.3 cm. high; 232g. total weight (2)

Footnotes

Exclusively intended for statues of gods and goddesses in temples, these body coverings are known as kavacham, or 'shields' in South India. These gold kavacham would have provided rich coverings for the stone or bronze images of deities they once adorned. When the kavacham had been fitted onto the image of the deity, they would have been decorated with flowers and jewels and processed around the temple.

For a comparable pair of kavacham made from sheet gold, dating to the 19th century, now in the Musee Barbier-Mueller in Geneva (inv.no.2504-127 A&B), see U.R. Balakrishnan, M.S. Kumar, Indian Jewellery - Dance of the Peacock, Mumbai, 2001, pg.287, ill.486.

Additional information