Page 36 - Himalayan Art Macrh 19 2018 Bonhams

3020
A GILT COPPER FIGURE UMA MAHESVARA
NEPAL, DATED 1345 CE
Inscribed around the front of the base in Newari script:
om Sri livamandmathira jojamdna (..) om Ariyostu samat 465 jita vadi (...) thiro bhavati.
Translated: “On the... day of the dark half of Jyestha, in the year 465, (this image) was
consecrated (for) the client sri Livamandma thira.”
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61553
8 1/8 in. (21 cm) high

$60,000 - 80,000
尼泊爾 1345年 銅鎏金濕婆與帕爾瓦蒂坐像

This endearing bronze shows Shiva and his wife Parvati tenderly embracing each other,
reminding us that they represent the ideals of marriage and affection. The subject is
commonly called Uma-Mahesvara after the two alternative names of Shiva and Parvati.
Shiva’s vehicle (vahana), the bull Nandi, sits below his right leg, while Parvati’s vehicle, the
lion, is recumbent below her.

The bronze is quite remarkable, not only for its date – approximately corresponding to
May-June of 1345 CE, according to Ian Alsop (ibid.) – but also for the caring and playful
union expressed mutually between the couple, when other examples depict them facing
outwards. Compare with two earlier examples of the latter in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art (acc.#1982.456.2 & 1987.218.1).

Published
Ian Alsop, “Five Dated Nepalese Metal Sculptures,” in Artibus Asiae, Vol.XLV, 2/3, 1984,
fig.3.

Provenance
Sotheby’s, New York, 25 March 1999, lot 35
Private Collection, New York

34 | BONHAMS