Page 111 - September 20th 2021, Indian and Himalayan Art Christie's NYC

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A LARGE BRONZE FIGURE OF KRISHNA KALIYADAMAN 印度南部 那亞克時期 十七/十八世紀 銅黑天像
SOUTH INDIA, NAYAKA PERIOD, 17TH-18TH CENTURY
36Ω in. (92.7 cm.) high 來源:
私人珍藏，巴西，不晚於1985年。
$50,000-70,000
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 cast 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 tenth-to-eleventh century may be referenced as an earlier prototype,
and is widely considered to be one of the finest South Indian bronzes.

(reverse)