A gilt bronze figure of Vasudhara

A gilt bronze figure of Vasudhara

A gilt-bronze figure of Vasudhara
Nepal, Kathmandu Valley, 1180-89
Seated on a double-lotus throne with one leg pendant, holding various implements in her six arms and wearing a dhoti with an incised pattern and various jewellery, a detailed inscription around the base
5½ in. (14 cm.) high

Details

  • Title : A gilt bronze figure of Vasudhara
  • Year : 1180-89
  • Classification : Sculpture
  • Medium : Gilt Bronze
  • Country/ Geo-location : Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, Asia
  • Collection : Christies
  • LOT : 59
  • Lot Essay : Unifying scholarly wisdom and knowledge of nature's mysteries into a single, female form, the Goddess Vasudhara is particularly popular as a household deity throughout Nepal. Worshiped for fertility and prosperity, she bestows generosity with her lower right hand in varadamudra and holds in the remaining hands a rain of jewels, book, sheaf of grain, and water pot. The inscription on the base has been translated and published by Ian Alsop: "On the seventh day of the bright half of Magha, in the year 28[7?], [this image of] Sri Vasudharani was consecrated. May the donor Jasapala Candra obtain the unsurpassed reward. May it be good."
  • Price realised : USD 47,500
  • Estimate : USD 30,000 - USD 50,000
  • Provenance : The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago, acquired before 1996
  • Literature : Pratapaditya Pal, A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, 1997, p. 192 and 329, cat. no. 249 I. Alsop, "Five Dated Nepalese Sculptures," Artibus Asiae, 45, 2/3, 1984, pp. 207-21, illus.
  • Exhibited : On loan to Art Institute of Chicago since 1996