Page 88 - 2020 September 23 Himalyan and Southeast Asian Works of Art Bonhams

645
A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE KRISHNA, THE BUTTER THIEF
TAMIL NADU, CHOLA PERIOD, CIRCA 13TH CENTURY
4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm) high

$20,000 - 30,000
With only one other Chola ‘Baby Krishna’ published, the present lot is possibly the first of this
crawling, ‘butter thief’ subject to be identified from the Chola period—making the sculpture of
considerable importance. The other ‘Baby Krishna’ depicts him lying on his back, sampling one
of his toes (Nagaswamy, Masterpieces of South Indian Bronzes, Ahmedabad, 1983, p.162,
pl.174; repeated in Nagasway, Timeless Delight, Ahmedabad, 2006, p.227, fig.4). The present
bronze shows the divine child as a mischievous crawling infant absconding with a butterball in
his right hand. But for a leaf-shaped hairpin, jeweled bangles, and a harness with an elaborate
kirtimuka fastening and a charm box protecting the child from evil, he is otherwise naked so
that the viewer can admire the well-nourished physique of a healthy baby boy.

Though the butter thief subject is known from many examples in the Vijayanagara period
(14th-17th centuries), the larger scale, superior detail, and advanced modeling of this bronze
correspond to the Chola period—regarded as the golden age of South Indian sculpture.
For example, compare the oval facial type and rounded limbs of three 13th-century Chola
sculptures of differing subjects published in Dehejia, The Sensuous and the Sacred, Seattle,
2002, pp.153-5, 160 & 168, no.28, 31 & 36. Meanwhile, contrasting Vijayanagara Krishnas are
located in the Norton Simon Museum (M.1977.30.10.S) and the Los Angeles County Museum
of Art (M.72.1.16).

Provenance
Private Newport Beach Collection, acquired 1962
Private West Coast Collection since 2005

86 | BONHAMS