A gilt-copper alloy figure of Vishnu, Nepal, 12th / 13th century

Sotheby's New York, 22nd March 1989, lot 399.

Vishnu is depicted adorned in luxuriant jewelry, standing on a circular beaded lots base, holding a cakra, padma, gada and sankha in his four hands, wearing a close-fitting dhoti, belt, meditation string securing pleated sashes, dish earrings and foliate armlets, necklace and tiara. He is framed by an elaborate chased areole with openwork bands of flames, beading and scrolling foliage.

Stylistically, Newari bronze casting followed the aesthetic and technical evolution of contemporaneous Gupta and Pala sculpture. However, facial features and physiognomy in bronze casting developed a distinctive expression in Newari ateliers–a slight widening in the eyes and face; the conjoined arc of the eyebrows and curvature of the nose; the grace and bulk in posturing; the prevalence of samabhanga figuration. For further discussion, see Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pp 300-303.

One third of the Brahmanic triad in the Hindu pantheon, Vishnu, the sustainer, is worshipped in many forms. Revered for his heroic actions in the epic volumes of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas, he is known chiefly through his avatars Rama and Krishna. Generally represented as a handsome, voluptuous youth and dressed in royal accoutrements, Vishnu's two lower arms represent his involvement in the mundane sphere, while his two upper arms represent his involvement in the divine sphere. The mace in his upper left hand symbolizes primeval strength; the conch in his lower left hand symbolizes the "sound" of creation and the origination of the five elements; the flaming chakra in the upper right hand symbolizes the destruction of ego through the following of one's dharma; and the lotus bud in the lower right hand symbolizes spiritual perfection.