Page 110 - March 23 2022 Boinghams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art

PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED CHICAGO COLLECTION
450
AN IMPORTANT BUFF SANDSTONE FIGURE OF A JINA
INDIA, GUJARAT, DATED SAMVAT 1128 (1071-72 CE) BY INSCRIPTION
28Ω in. (72.4 cm.) high
$120,000-180,000
PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's London, 11 October 1990, lot 85.
Christie's New York, 23 March 2010, lot 171.
Jainism is propagated through the stories of twenty-four tirthankaras, figures
who have conquered samsara (the cycle of death and rebirth) and provide
others a bridge to follow them to moksha (liberation). Tirthankaras are often
depicted as an ideal yogi in a seated posture, as in the present example, or
kayotsarga, the standing “body-abandonment” pose. They also often have
a srivatsa mark on their chest, perhaps to distinguish them from images of
Buddha, which share many similar iconographical elements.
The present work is closely related to a similarly-sized example in the
collection of Dr. David R. Nalin, illustrated by P. Pal in The Peaceful Liberators:
Jain Art from India, Los Angeles, 1994, p. 140, cat. no. 27. The Nalin example,
with an inscription giving a date of samvat 1165 (corresponding to 1108 C.E.),
was dedicated only thirty-seven years after the present work; both examples
share many stylistic details, including the cushion with similar, lozenge-
shaped scrollwork, the foliate lozenge-shaped srivatsa mark on the chest,
and the proportions of the face, with lidded, almond-shaped eyes, pendulous
earlobes, and tight snailshell curls of hair over the cranial protuberance. The
Nalin example and the present work also share the same representation of the
diaphanously-rendered dhoti, with an incision along the waist indicating the
hem and a small grouping of folds extending from below the ankles. The two
works were almost certainly made by the same workshop, and based on the
small difference in dating of the two works, possibly by the same hand.
In many representations of Jain figures, an identifying symbol or iconographical
mark is included to distinguish the identity of the individual jina; Rishbhanatha
is thus identified by the long hair or by a representation of a bull; Parshavanatha
by the hoods of the snake over his head; Neminatha by an image of conch shell.
Both the present work and the Nalin example lack any identifying attribute
or symbol, making exact identification impossible; Pal, however, assumes
the Nalin example represents the last tirthankara Mahavira, as he is the most
commonly worshipped and represented.

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