Triad depicting Indra and his consorts in gilded copper alloy Nepal, 16th century
A GILT-COPPER ALLOY TRIAD OF INDRA AND CONSORTS, NEPAL, 16TH CENTURY
Indra seated in Vajrasana on a Lotiform base, his left hand resting on his knee holding a stem whose flower welcomes the lightning, his right hand in Vitarka mudra, dressed in a fine dhoti and a scarf falling on the arms, richly adorned with jewels, the hair gathered in a bun and girdled with a crown, the head adorned with a perforated Mandorla, the two divinities attached seated in Lalitasana on a Lotiform pedestal, richly adorned with jewels, crowns, and mandoras openwork, the one with his right holding flowering stems, the one on his left with the right hand in Vitarka mudra and the left holding flowering stems (4)
15.5 cm, 6 1/8 in.
Details
- Title : A GILT-COPPER ALLOY TRIAD OF INDRA AND CONSORTS, NEPAL, 16TH CENTURY
- Year : 16TH CENTURY
- Classification : Sculpture
- Medium : Gilt Copper Alloy
- Accession No : LOT 103
- Country/ Geo-location : NEPAL
- Collection : Sotheby’s
- Acquisition Method : FRENCH SPECIFIC COLLECTION
- Status : AT: ARTS D'ASIE / ASIAN ART 15 DECEMBER 2016 | 2:30 PM CET PARIS
- ESTIMATE : 20,000 — 30,000EUR
- PROVENANCE : Blue Lotus Gallery, Philadelphia, December 2010.
- CATALOGUE NOTE : Indra's third eye derives from the Vedic past. In Vedic literature, Indra is said to possess one thousand eyes, symbols of his cosmic nature. Also a storm-god, Indra is frequently described as the thunderbolt wielder and this weapon is his primary attribute. An early sixteenth-century date for this bronze can be suggested by a comparison with another figure of Indra dated 1589 and now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. A very similar figure is illustrated in Pratapaditya Pal, Art of Nepal, Los Angeles, 1985, p. 119. Compare also with a similar triad, published in Ulrich Von Schroeder Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, 1981, cat. no. 104A, p. 384.