This rare early example of Nepalese repoussé depicts the god Vishnu in flight astride his half-bird, half-human mount, Garuda. He displays a flaming discus, a club, and a conch. Atop his wings are diminutive figures of his wives. Vishnu was the premier deity of the North Indian Gupta clan, and Garuda their dynastic symbol—a royal association that continued with the Licchavi kingdom in Nepal. The inscription here refers to Vishnu Garudadhvaja (One Whose Banner is Garuda), the Gupta symbol. This relief, the oldest known example outside Nepal, served as a protective sheath for a stone icon of the same subject.
Details
- Title : Vishnu Riding on Garuda
- Year : dated 1004
- Classification : Sculpture
- Medium : Gilt copper repoussé
- Dimension : H. 16 1/2 in. (41.9 cm); W. 11 5/8 in. (29.5 cm); D. 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm)
- Accession No : 2012.463
- Country/ Geo-location : Nepal
- Collection : The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Credit Line : Zimmerman Family Collection, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace, Jeffrey B. Soref and Natalie Soref Gifts, 2012
- Status : On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 252
- Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings : Inscription: Inscribed in Sanskrit: “In the year 1004 . . .in the Jichchodgesu district of the Nepal mandala, the devout Sri Lipa gave (this) covering [kosa] to Garudadhaja”
- Provenance : [ Zimmerman Family Collection , New York, until 2012, sold to MMA]
- Exhibition History : New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Tibetan and Nepalese Art: Recent Acquisitions," September 17, 2013–February 2, 2014.
- Timeline of Art History : Himalayan Region, 1000-1400 A.D.
- MetPublications : "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2012–2014" The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 72, no. 2 (Fall, 2014) Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 73, no. 1 (Summer, 2015)