Page 64 - 2021 March 16th Indian, Himalayan and Tibetan Art, Bonhams NYC New York

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A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF GANESHA
TAMIL NADU, CHOLA PERIOD, 12TH CENTURY
13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm) high
$250,000 - 350,000

Expressing his affinity for the beloved elephant-headed god, a confident artist has cast
Ganesha with an emphatic childlike smile behind the long, sinuous trunk. The mischievous
“Remover of Obstacles”, Ganesha is worshipped to bless both the start and success of almost
any undertaking. In Chola times, a bronze Ganesha was a part of every festival. This sculpture
shows signs of ritual use and ablutions, left with a polished forest green trunk. Ganesha’s
round belly is another area frequently touched by devotees, and the cord draped over his right
shoulder has been rubbed down to a faint impression across his stomach.

Compared to many more dwarfish renditions, this model of Ganesha boasts a tall physique and
other artistic merits astutely explained by Dr. Pal:

“But for the minimal apparel consisting of a short loincloth, the god would be naked. His short,
plump legs and feet clearly demonstrate his tender age, but the ample overhanging belly and
the torso are of an adult. This [His] composite human body carries a naturalistically modelled
elephant head with a gracefully swimming trunk scooping up the sweet from the left palm. The
corresponding right hand delicately grasps his broken right tusk which he is about to hurl at the
Moon, who mocked the roly-poly lad for his inordinate gluttony for sweets. The second pair of
hands hold the elephant-goad (right) and the noose (left). Noteworthy are the prominent fan-like
ears, reflecting the unknown artist’s familiarity with the elephant.

“Lively and elegant with his chubby legs, a hanging rotund belly, but a well-proportioned torso,
the bronze is a handsome representation of the 12th century, still revealing the creative impulse
of the Chola sculptors. Comparable are bronzes at the Melaperumpallam temple dated to 1178
[Dehejia 1990 figs 87-88; so also Pal 2005, no.169d for a stylistically closely related example).
The Bhansali bronze, however, is distinguished by its unusual combination of proportions in
conceiving the body and the endearing manner in which the tip of the long, sinuous trunk is
about to lift the sweetmeat off the palm.”

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.167-8, no.90.

Exhibited
The Elegant Image: Hindu, Buddhist and Jain Bronzes from the Indian Subcontinent in the
Siddharth K. Bhansali Collection, New Orleans Museum of Art, 5 August - 23 October 2011.

Provenance
Collection of Siddharth K. Bhansali, New Orleans
Acquired in London between 1978-83

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