Page 48 - Christie's Inidian and HImalayan Works of Art, March 2019

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF BARONESS EVA BESSENYEY
(LOTS 601-640 AND LOTS 719-724)

634
A FINE SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FIGURE OF MAITREYA
NORTHEASTERN INDIA, PALA PERIOD, 11TH-12TH CENTURY
4¬ in. (11.7 cm.) high
$40,000-60,000

PROVENANCE
Collection of Dr. David Nalin, acquired 1969
Sotheby’s New York, 28 October 1991, lot 131
Collection of Mr. Robert Kipniss, New York
Christie’s New York, 27 March 2003, lot 37
EXHIBITED
On loan to the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1971—1979 or 1984
LITERATURE
J. Casey (ed.), Medieval Sculpture from Eastern India: Selections from the Nalin
Collection, Livingston, 1985, p. 69, cat. no. 40

The elegantly executed and richly patinated fgure of Maitreya exemplifes yajnopavitam, and the supple physiognomy with two twelfth-century fgures of
the grace and technical refnement for which Pala-period sculpture is Maitreya also from Gaya district, see S. Huntington, The “Pala-Sena” Schools
renowned. Maitreya, the Future Buddha, sits languidly in lalitasana with the of Sculpture, Leiden, 1984, cat. nos. 189 and 190.
left leg extended on a throne of lush lotus petals. The body is modeled with
exceptional naturalism and voluptuousness, from the exaggerated curve of the Also compare the stylized nagakesara vines fanking the main fgure, the tiered
torso and shoulders, to the slightly bulging belly, arched feet and splayed toes. base with round, double-tipped lotus petals and the heavy lower rim of beaded
The silver inlay at the rectangular urna and the downcast eyes draw attention pearls with a contemporaneous fgure of Maitreya from Gaya district in the
to the sensitively modeled face with beatifc expression. He is identifed by the Nalin Collection (fgure a), illustrated by J. Casey (ed.) in Medieval Sculpture
stupa in the crown of the head. from Eastern India: Selections from the Nalin Collection, Livingston, 1985, p. 68,
cat. no. 39., all of which suggest that this sculpture and the current work may
Between the eighth to twelfth centuries, the Pala dynasty was one of the last be from the same atelier.
strongholds of Buddhist India. Buddhist temples and monasteries fourished
under the Pala rulers, and Buddhist practitioners from greater Asia traveled The distinctive tiered base and rim can also be compared with two further
to sacred sites associated with the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. With this fgures in museum collections: a twelfth-century bronze fgure of Lokeshvara
came the expanded propagation of Buddhist texts and religious icons, easily in the National Museum, New Delhi, see ed. Lalit Kala Akademi, Eastern Indian
transported by pilgrims. With the support of generations of successive royal Bronzes, New Delhi, cat. no. 283, and a contemporaneous bronze fgure of
patronage, the Pala ateliers achieved an exceptional level of sophistication, Maitreya in the British Museum, London, see U. von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan
revered as one of the golden eras of the Indian sculptural tradition. Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 283, fg. 69D.
Compare the high, plaited style of the jatamukuta, the geometric shape of Himalayan Art Resources (himalayanart.org), item no. 24498.
the stupa in the hair, the elongated facial features, the low-slung beaded

Cover and illustration from Jane Casey (ed.), Medieval Sculpture from Eastern India: Selections from the
Nalin Collection, Livingston, 1985, p. 69, cat. no. 40

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