Page 82 - 2020 September 23 Himalyan and Southeast Asian Works of Art Bonhams

641
A COPPER ALLOY SHRINE TO SURYA
KARNATAKA, WESTERN CHALUKYA PERIOD, 11TH CENTURY
21 1/8 in. (53.6 cm) high
$150,000 - 250,000

Surya, the Sun-god, stands tall like a cosmic pillar holding two fully-blown lotuses emphasizing
his supreme generative powers. He is adorned with regalia, but not too ostentatiously as to
distract from his idealized physique. Paired with an Indian dhoti around his hips, Surya wears
tall boots which scholars have suggested indicate a Eurasian origin. As in other Indo-European
religious systems, the Vedic Sun-god rides a chariot through the sky, representing the sun’s
daily passage. His charioteer and team of seven horses are depicted below, while immediately
to either side stand Surya’s alluring consorts, representing the two phases of dawn. Columns
emerging from the shine’s base are decorated with the gajavidala motif, which depicts a
mythical lion triumphing over an elephant. Two cherubs float on either side of Surya’s halo,
surrounded by a magnificent profusion of vegetal and floral volutes emerging from the gaping
mouth of a horned kala face. As Pal notes, this bronze shrine marks the apogee of Western
Chalukyan metal sculpture, striking a “remarkable balance between decorative exuberance
and elegant figural forms to create a harmonious composition of restrained energy”. (Pal, The
Elegant Image, New Orleans, 2011, p.134)

From their dynastic capital in Kalyani (modern-day Basavakalyan), the Western Chalukyas
ruled over Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the Deccan Plateau between the late-10th and
late-12th centuries. Among their artistic achievements, they patronized the poet Bilhana who
produced the famous love poem, the Chaurapanchasika, in the same century this bronze was
created. The Western Chalukyas also produced the most engaging and aesthetically satisfying
sculptures in the Deccan at this time, building upon a regional artistic tradition of robust figures
and ornate frames, which the Hoysalas (r.1026-1343) furthered. The Western Chalukyas built
over 50 temples ranging throughout Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, a notable example of
which is the Mahadeva temple in Karnataka, dedicated in 1112 CE, whose outer walls display
similar scrolling vines as the present bronze’s arch (see Huntington, The Art of Ancient India,
New York, 1993, pp.545, figs.22.6).

As Pal identified, this bronze is one of the most impressive surviving metal sculptures in the
Western Chalukyan style (Pal, op cit.). Probably the closest other example to its scale and
importance is an albeit much smaller shrine to Vishnu in the Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum
of Indian Art, Hyderabad (Chandra, The Sculpture of India 3000BC-1300AD, Michigan, 1985,
pp.184-185, no.89). Other notable examples of Western Chalukyan metal sculpture are a
Vishnu shrine in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (EA2005.12), an enthroned Jina at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1987.142.335), and a shrine to the Jain Goddess
Ambika at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.72.1.12). Like them, the present shrine
has a smooth surface produced by many years of ritual worship that included the pouring
of liquids (ghee, honey, milk, water, and the like) onto the sculpture, followed by a thorough
cleansing that effectively polished its surface.

Published
Pratapaditya Pal, The Elegant Image: Hindu, Buddhist And Jain Bronzes From The Indian
Subcontinent In The Siddharth K. Bhansali Collection, New Orleans, 2011, pp.134-5, no.67.

Exhibited
The Elegant Image: Hindu, Buddhist And Jain Bronzes From The Indian Subcontinent In The
Siddharth K. Bhansali Collection, August 5th to October 23rd, 2011, New Orleans.

Provenance
Barling of Mount Street Ltd., London, by mid 1970s
Collection of Siddharth K. Bhansali, New Orleans
On Loan to the New Orleans Museum of Art, 2018-2020

80 | BONHAMS