Page 14 - 2019 September 11th Christie's New York Chiense Art Himalayan bronzes and art

THE PROPERTY OF DOROTHY AND RICHARD SHERWOOD

301
A MOTTLED RED SANDSTONE RELIEF OF A COUPLE
CENTRAL INDIA, MATHURA, KUSHAN PERIOD, 2ND CENTURY
11º in. (28.5 cm.) wide

$20,000-30,000

PROVENANCE
The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, New York, by repute.
The Pan-Asian Collection (Christian Humann), by 1972.
Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, New York, by 1982.
The Pan-Asian Collection; Sotheby’s New York, 5 October 1990, lot 15.
EXHIBITED
On Loan to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (L.72.14.99), by 1972.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Denver Art
Museum, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, Kansas City, National Gallery,
Ottawa, Toledo Museum of Art, “The Sensuous Immortals: A Selection of
Sculptures from the Pan-Asian Collection,” 25 October 1977-29 October 1978.
LITERATURE
P. Pal, The Sensuous Immortals: A Selection of Sculptures from the Pan-Asian
Collection, catalogue of the traveling exhibition, Los Angeles, 1977, p. 25,
no. 5 (illustrated).
The present relief depicts a couple in adoration: the male figure holds his
hands before his chest, leaning forward to gaze down upon the subject of
his veneration, and his female companion clutches a bouquet of fowers. She
is adorned with jewelry typical of the Mathuran period, with several bangles
running up her forearm, and heavy, lotiform earrings dangling from her
earlobes. Both figures are cut of at waist level by a railing resembling those
commonly found at early Buddhist stupas, such as at Sanchi; such railings
(vedikas), were carved from stone, but their origins were in earlier prototypes
carved from wood.

P. Pal, The Sensuous Immortals, A Selection of Sculptures form the Pan-Asian Collection,
catalogue of the traveling exhibition, Los Angeles, 1977, cover and p. 25.

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