Page 134 - 2019 September 11th Christie's New York Chiense Art Himalayan bronzes and art

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TWO GILT-COPPER REPOUSSÉ FIGURAL PLAQUES A PAINTING OF SNAKES AND LADDERS
NEPAL, KATHMANDU VALLEY, 17TH CENTURY NEPAL, 19TH CENTURY
Each 8√ in. (22.5 cm.) high 25 x 24Ω in. (63.5 x 62.2 cm.)

$10,000-15,000 $6,000-8,000

PROVENANCE PROVENANCE
Collection of Alexander Weddeu and Virginia Chase Steedman Weddeu, Alfo Nicolosi Collection, Mantova, Italy.
Richmond, Virginia. Christie’s New York, 3 September 2011, lot 291.
The Virginia House Museum, Richmond, by 1948.
The present painting would have been utilized as a board game played with
These hammered-metal plaques depicting Shiva and Parvati and their son, dice. The board represents the progress of life with certain squares denoting
Kumara atop a peacock, once served both a ritual and practical purpose, good deeds, and others bad deeds, along with the consequences of both
protecting stone images of the same deities. It is likely that these were actions; the squares at the lower rungs represent states of hell ultimately
created in the late-Malla period to safeguard earlier images lining a ritual leading up towards the heavens. The game, often played during the Paryusana
bath, a commonplace architectural feature that can be found throughout festival, was popular amongst Jain nuns who used it as a didactic pastime
the three former kingdoms of Kathmandu. The hammered-metal technique, to impart the notion of karma. Versions were also adapted for Hindus and
mastered by the Newar people of the valley, is prevalent throughout the Muslims; interestingly, and perhaps unusually, this present example includes
Kathmandu Valley. Buddhist deities.

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