STATUE OF TRIPURA IN GOLDEN BRONZE
NEPAL, 14TH CENTURY
Represented sitting in Vajrasana , his two main hands holding a bow and arrows, the two others holding one a stick, the other a link, dressed in a Sari with incised decoration of the lotus, the bare chest, adorned with necklaces, bracelets and inlaid earrings, the delicate face, the raised forehead of the third eye and girded with a tiara, with hair in a bun revealing the crescent moon, lotus-shaped end supporting a Ratna ; small gaps
Height: 20 cm. (7 7/8 in.)
Details
- Title : A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF TRIPURA
- Classification : Sculpture
- Medium : Bronze
- Country/ Geo-location : Nepal
- Period : 14TH CENTURY
- Collection : Christies
- LOT : 194
- Pre-Lot Text : PARISIAN SPECIAL COLLECTION
- Post Lot Text : AT GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF TRIPURA NEPAL, 14TH CENTURY
- Lot Essay : This extremely rare bronze figure of the Shaiva goddess Tripura or Lalita is one of the tantric manifestations of the Great Goddess Mahavidya. It is the focus of a culture that gives the practitioner not only the fulfillment of all desires but also frees him from the chain of birth and rebirth. She is said to be full of love and passion that is suggested by the five arrows and bow in both her primary hands. Both attributes are known from the Hindu god of love, Kama, and symbolize further the mind (bow) and five senses (arrows). The elephant-goad is unfortunate partially broken. Another Nepalese example, but placed on an altar, is published by Dr. Pal in Asian Art at Norton Simon Museum , vol. 2, Art from the Himalayas & ChinaNorton Simon Art Foundation and Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2003, pl. 65
- Price realized : EUR 38,900
- Estimate : EUR 20,000 - EUR 30,000
- Origin : Acquired by the present owner from a private collector in the Autumn of 1971.