Page 64 - Indian and Himalayan Art, March 15, 2017 Sotheby's NYC

INDIAN SCULPTURE 257

256 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EAST COAST COLLECTION

256 A BRONZE FIGURE OF SHIVA
South India, Vijayanagar period, 14th Century
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION
Height: 31 ¾ in. (80.7 cm)
A GRANITE FIGURE OF SHRIDEVI OR
BHUDEVI PROVENANCE
South India, Vijayanagar period,
circa 15th Century Sotheby’s Parke Bernet, New York, 26 October 1974, lot 37.

Height: 13 ¾ in. (35 cm) The large elegantly modeled sculpture depicting the Lord
PROVENANCE standing in slight contrapposto atop a lotus face upon a
Acquired in India by the late Mr. and Mrs. John L. Wiggin, raised plinth. He is richly ornamented with multiple necklaces,
during Mr. Wiggin’s tour as Public A airs O cer for USIS armbands and an elaborate jeweled girdle fashioned in the
between 1957-1959; thence by descent. form of a kirttimukha. His hips are framed by the swaying
$ 3,000-5,000 sash ties of his short veshti. His face with its slight smile bears
an enigmatic expression. His tall jata is ornamented with a
62 SOTHEBY’S jeweled tiara. A crescent moon peeps out of his matted coils
on the upper right while a snake hood rests subtly on the left.
Shiva’s primary hands which would have held either a vina or a
bow and arrow are intact. The secondary hands, now missing,
would have held his characteristic attributes - a leaping
antelope and a battle-axe - signifying his ascendancy over
man and beast and emphasizing his war-like qualities. Flower
blossoms caress his broad shoulders.

Images bearing this iconography have been variously
identi ed as Vinadhara (Player of the Vina) or as Tripuravijaya
(Destroyer of three cities). This is because the identifying
attributes in the primary hands of the image that would have
been separately fashioned and inserted, are now missing. In
his form as Vinadhara Dakshinamurti Shiva displays his great
yogic powers since mastery over vocal and instrumental music
in the Indian Classical tradition is closely linked with control
over breath and ultimately mind. As Tripuravijaya – a form
that gained much vogue during the late Chola period – Shiva
radiates unlimited power for in this form he reduces three
cities inhabited by demons to ashes with one aming arrow.
Most importantly, whether as a great yogi or as a great warrior
Shiva reminds his devotees of his Omniscience.

For a much earlier but similarly large and sinuously modeled
sculpture of Tripuravijaya with consort in the Cleveland
Museum of Art collection, see V. Dehejia et al., The Sensuous
and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India, New York,
2003, cat. 5, pp. 106-107. The slender proportions, elaborate
ornamentation and tall jatamukuta are reminiscent of the
present image.

$ 20,000-30,000