Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art
Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art
Property From a Private Japanese Collector
A Black Stone Stele of Vishnu, India, Pala Period, 11th-12th Century
Auction Closed
September 20, 05:33 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property From a Private Japanese Collector
A Black Stone Stele of Vishnu
India, Pala Period, 11th-12th Century
Height 24¼ in. (61.6 cm)
the four-armed figure standing on a lotus pedestal in the center, holding his four attributes, including the discus, conch, mace and lotus, wearing a striated dhoti secured at the waist with a jeweled girdle, adorned with elaborate jewelry and a tall conical headdress, flanked by his two consorts Bhudevi holding a fly whisk and Shridevi holding a vina
Collection of a Japanese Diplomat, acquired in Bangladesh, circa 1970.
This Pala Vishnu bears a resemblance to another Pala stone of the same subject from Eksari in the Saran District located at the western end of modern-day Bihar, illustrated in S. Huntington, The “Pāla-Sena” Schools of Sculpture, Leiden, 1984, fig. 158. The present sculpture is of a slightly later date, but both show a regional style blended with Pala artistic traditions which come from the Cedi region in the area west of Bihar. This integrative style between the Pala-Cedi regions features an overall Pala iconographic program in the linear patterning of the drapery across the chest, the thick collared necklace and the lotus bases, as visible in both the Huntington stele and the present sculpture (ibid, p. 132). It is the traits of the face in both sculptures which illustrate a more regional influence, diverging from the classical Pala style, which is evident in the elongated eyes, broad nose and widened lips.