Page 20 - Sotheby's Indian Himalayan and Southeast Asian Wroks of Art March 2019

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PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF HELLEN S. DARION The account of infant Krishna, rescued from his
A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF uncle after a prophecy of his death, tells how
BALAKRISHNA he was secretly sent away and raised in the
village of Gokula as a cowherd. According to the
South India, Chola Period, 13th Century legend, Krishna delighted in the indulgence of
milk, and would stealthily try to steel butterballs,
the child Krishna portrayed dancing with weight or navanita. Upon his triumph, he would dance
on his left leg, the right leg raised with knee bent joyfully and gleefully at his prize.
and toes pointing downwards, the right arm held
in abhaya mudra while his left arm gracefully This is the most popular imagery one sees for
extends to the side with the dance, the upper the infant Krishna – naked, adorned with jewels,
torso held erect, the head forward, the body his left hand outstretched and his right leg lifted
adorned with elaborate jewelry including armlets, in the movement of his dance – mimicking the
anklets, necklaces and a girdle of bells (kinkini), form of dancing Shiva. The expression of dance,
the face with mild expression surmounted by a repeated in many of these Hindu deities of this
multi-tiered conical headdress, the conventional era, show the considerable importance of dance
roundel at the back, standing on a lotus base set in religious worship and practice.
onto a square pedestal with loops at the side for Compare the styling of the jewelry including the
processional purposes kinkini and necklaces to another Chola bronze
Height 17 in. (43.2 cm.)
sold at Sotheby’s New York, March 23, 2007. To
reference the refined gestural movements, see
PROVENANCE
Dehejia, V.; The Sensuous and The Sacred; Chola
Michael Dollard, 1957.
Bronzes from South India, New York, 2002,
pp. 198 – 199, fig. 51.
$ 100,000-150,000

Reverse

18 SOTHEBY’S INDIAN, HIMALAYAN & SOUTHEAST ASIAN WORKS OF ART