Page 22 - Christies Indian and Himalayan Art IRVING collection Sept 24 2020 NYC

709
A BRONZE FIGURE OF BHU DEVI
INDIA, NAYAKA PERIOD, 17TH-18TH CENTURY
19æ in. (50.2 cm.) high

$6,000-8,000
PROVENANCE:
Collection of Louis Kaufman (1905-1994), Los Angeles, before
1994.
Bhu Devi, the Earth Goddess, is one of Vishnu's wives. After
she was abducted by the demon Hiranyaksha, Vishnu took on
the form of his boar avatar Varaha and plunged in to the depths
of the ocean to save her. After lifting her above the waves on
his tusks, Vishnu vanquished the demon with his chakra. In
South Indian representations of Bhu Devi, she is often shown
as part of a trinity with Vishnu in the center and Sri Devi on
the other side. While Bhu Devi and Sri Devi's iconography are
very similar, Bhu Devi can be distinguished by the breast-band,
which Sri Devi lacks.

710
A LARGE BRONZE FIGURE OF KRISHNA
KALIYADAMAN
SOUTH INDIA, NAYAKA PERIOD, 17TH-18TH CENTURY
36Ω in. (92.7 cm.) high

$80,000-120,000
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Brazil, by 1985.
The present sculpture depicts Krishna dancing in celebration
atop the hood of the subdued serpent king Kaliya. The multi-
hooded Kaliya was polluting the waters of the Yamuna River
and terrorizing Krishna’s homeland, Vraj. The young Krishna
set out to defeat the naga, but ended up restricted in his coils.
Expanding himself to escape, and landing on Kaliya’s hoods,
Krishna began to crush the serpent king with great weight
by the steps of his dance until Kaliya admitted defeat. Rather
than killing his foe, Krishna agreed to let him flee, only after
performing one final dance upon his hoods.
This weighty sculpture represents Krishna as a plump
adolescent, mid-step in dance upon Kaliya. His left hand,
extended outward, grasps the tail of the serpent, while his right
hand is raised in abhayamudra, the gesture of reassurance,
towards the spectators. Krishna wears an elaborately decorated
dhoti with bands of embroidered floral and foliate motifs and
an ornate, snake-like jewelry set. His hair is arranged in an
unusually bulbous bun, tied off with a flowing sash. The details
of Kaliya’s multi-hooded head and scaled body are meticulously
executed and, impressively, include a diminutive representation
of Kaliya in humanoid form, surrendering to Krishna.
Compare the present figure to a similarly composed example
at the Victoria and Albert Museum (acc. no. IS.204-1959),
published in P. Pal, 1997, Dancing to the Flute: Music and Dance
in Indian Art, pp. 82-83, fig. 33. A well-known figure of Krishna
dancing on Kaliya from the John D. Rockefeller III Collection
at the Asia Society (acc. no. 1979.22), dated to the 10th-11th
century may be referenced as an earlier prototype, and is widely
considered one of the finest South Indian bronzes.
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