Page 19 - Christies Indian and Himalayan Art IRVING collection Sept 24 2020 NYC

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE PENNSYLVANIA COLLECTION
707
A LARGE RED SANDSTONE FIGURE OF A GODDESS
INDIA, MADHYA PRADESH OR RAJASTHAN,
10TH-11TH CENTURY
38Ω in. (97.8 cm.) high
$60,000-80,000
PROVENANCE:
Jean Claude Moreau-Gobard, Paris.
Michel Lucotte, Echevronne, France, 17 April 1980.
Tajan, Paris, 10 June 2019, lot 96.
The goddess stands in an upright and symmetrical samabhanga
posture, representing bodily and spiritual equilibrium. Her
conical jatamukuta, composed largely of hair braids and
embellished with jewels, associates her with the god Shiva.
She is richly adorned throughout her body, including makara-
head earrings, a layered collar with floral bud pendants, a
multi-strand necklace of pearls, and a waistband with one long
descending openwork chatelaine. Remnants of a vanamala
garland, which would have draped over her arms, join legs
above her cuff anklets.
The figure draws close comparison to stelae of the goddess
Gauri; however, without the figure’s arms and accompanying
attributes, a specific identification is not possible. A tenth
century black stone stele of the goddess at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art (acc. no. 2014.519), standing in samabhanga,
gathers her hair into a braided and bejeweled jatamukuta
and wears similar jewelry, makara-earrings, and embellished
garland. The figure may be compared stylistically to a
sandstone figure of Vishnu attributed to central-eastern
Madhya Pradesh at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (acc. no.
25.438), published in V.N. Desai, Gods, Guardians, and Lovers:
Temple Sculptures from North India, New York, 1993, pp. 185-
186, cat 47.