Page 70 - Indian and Himalayan Art, March 15, 2017 Sotheby's NYC
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A LARGE STONE STELE DEPICTING VISHNU The elaborately carved temple bracket depicting Vishnu in
India, Karnataka, Hoysala period, his characteristic upright frontal stance as Preserver of the
12th/13th Century Universe. He carries his attributes conch, discus, mace and
lotus in his four hands. He is richly bejeweled and stands on a
Height: 41 in. (104.1 cm) including tang lotus blossom carved upon the face of the plinth, anked by
diminutive gures of his consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi, also
PROVENANCE standing atop lotus blossoms. The apex of the bracket bears
a kirttimukha from whose gaping jaws emanate the swirling
Osenat, Paris Fontainebleau, 19 January 2014, lot 97. waters of the cosmic ocean upon which Vishnu rests.
Formerly in the collection of Musée Gantner, Belfort, France.
Purchased at SINO, Auxerre, France, 1967-68, by repute. Described often as ‘ornate’ and ‘rococo’ the Hoysala style
developed independently in the Deccan in the twelfth century.
$ 150,000-200,000 Displaying a unique admixture of Northern and Southern
Indian artistic styles, Hoysala sculptures are characterized
by deep carving and undercutting as seen in the present lot.
While the abundance of carving seen in Hoysala temples is
encountered in Central and Western Indian monuments of
the same period the delicacy of the carving and the attention
lavished on minute detail is without parallel in any other phase
of Indian art.
Vishnu is seen here in his form of Kesava which was popular
with the Hoysala Dynasty. The sculpture’s weighty frame
is given an additional dimension with embellishments – the
overhanging locks of hair framing Vishnu’s face, his multiple
layers of necklaces, festooned girdle. Indeed no part of the
stone surface is left undecorated. For an even more elaborately
carved sculpture of Vishnu as Kesava in the collection of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art see J. C. Harle, The Art and
Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, London, 1986, g. 206,
p. 265.
Bracket sculptures such as the present lot were produced in
wide quantity and variety and were placed in rows ornamenting
the outer walls of temples. For an example of the placement
of such sculptures in the iconographic program of Hoysala
temples see S. L. Huntingdon, The Art of Ancient India: Hindu,
Buddhist, Jain, New York, 1985, g. 22.27, p. 560, depicting an
outer wall of the Kesava Temple at Belur.
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