Page 20 - Christies Indian and Himalayan Art IRVING collection Sept 24 2020 NYC

PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED EAST COAST COLLECTION
708
A RARE BRONZE FIGURE OF DANCING KRISHNA
SOUTH INDIA, TAMIL NADU, CHOLA PERIOD,
13TH CENTURY
14Ω in. (36.8 cm.) high
$70,000-90,000

PROVENANCE:
William H. Wolff, New York, by 1970.
Property from a Private East Coast Collection; Sotheby's
New York, 23 March 2007, lot 31.
LITERATURE:
H. Munsterberg, Art of India and Southeast Asia, New York,
1970, pp. 140-141.
The present figure depicts Krishna as a child joyously
dancing upon a raised plinth. Images of dancing Krishna are
among the most popular of subjects in South India, often
found in the form of the child god celebrating atop the hood
of the serpent Kalia (kaliyadaman, see lot 710) and while
holding his prized, stolen butterball (navanitanrittamurti).
In the present example, Krishna dances out of pure delight,
balancing on one leg and raising his right hand in the gesture
of fearlessness, abhayamudra, his left arm outstretched.
The young deity is naked, save for some modest jewelry
and a string of bells fastened around his waist, adding to
the liveliness of the dance.
This depiction of Krishna is often confused with that of the
Shaivite saint Sambandar, who is always shown with the
index finger of his right arm pointing. For close comparisons
to the present sculpture, see V. Dehejia, The Sensuous and
the Sacred, 2002, p. 199, fig. no. 51, and P. Pal, Asian Art
at the Norton Simon Museum, Vol. 1; Art from the Indian
Subcontinent, 2003, p. 251, fig. no. 178

Cover and illustration from H. Munsterberg, Art of India and
Southeast Asia, New York, 1970, p. 140.