Page 14 - Bonhams IMages of Devotion, Hong Kong Nov 30 2022

1003
A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SHIVA
JAVA, 8TH/9TH CENTURY
Inventory number in white paint at the back of the base 1966/170.
16.8 cm (6 5/8 in.) high

HKD60,000 - 80,000
爪哇 八/九世紀 濕婆銅像

As the Supreme God, Shiva as Mahadeva stands in the classic hierarchic pose
with four arms holding a trident, a holy water kendi-like vessel, a rosary, and
fly whisk. Beneath the jewels, incised floral dhoti, and crown with a tall coiled
jatamukuta adorned with a crescent moon and sun, is the supple and slender
body of the god. By his feet sits his vehicle, a diminutive form of the sacred bull
Nandi.

As with other examples from the earlier Central Javanese period (7th-10th
centuries), the jeweled waistband (udarabandha) here appears closer to the navel
than in examples from the later Eastern Javanese period (10th-16th centuries).
This feature is one of the more prominent stylistic elements of the South Indian
Pallava style (7th-9th centuries) to have influenced artists in Java and is emphatic
of the cultural exchange between these two regions. This piece is also linked
through similar modes of representation to Cham and Yunnan sculpture. For a
detailed discussion, see John Guy, “The Avalokiteshvara of Yunnan and Some
South East Asian Connections”, in Rosemary Scott & John Guy (ed.), South East
Asia & China: Art Interaction & Commerce, Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in
Asia, London, 1995, pp. 78-9, no. 17.

The present piece compares favourably with related examples in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, formerly in the Samuel Eilenberg Collection, see Lerner and
Kossak, The Lotus Transcendent, New York, 1991, pp. 32-5, nos. 130-9 and
another in the Richard Bull Collection, see Bull, “The Metamorphosis of One
Collector”, Expedition Magazine, University of Pennsylvania, 1965, p. 45.

Provenance
The Tuyet Nguyet and Stephen Markbreiter Collection

12 | BONHAMS