Page 188 - 2019 September 11th Christie's New York Chiense Art Himalayan bronzes and art

411
A LARGE BRASS FIGURE OF LAKSHMI
EASTERN INDIA, ORISSA, 18TH CENTURY
30æ in. (78.1 cm.) high

$50,000-70,000

PROVENANCE
Private collection, West Coast of the United States, 1990s, by repute.
In style and casting technique, the present fgure is typical of eighteenth-century
brass sculpture from Orissa, in eastern India: the round face is set with wide, almond-
shaped eyes, prominent nose, and full lips, and the heavy, solid-cast body displays a
powerful physique, with all bodily adornments lotiform in design. The present fgure
stands out, however, for the unusual presence of the diyya (lamp) held before her
waist. The bowl of the lamp would have likely been flled with oil, and a wick could
be run through the hollow cylinder held in her right hand, transforming the sculpture
into a working oil lamp.
Such fgural lamps are also known from contemporaneous South India, where they
are described as portrait or donor lamps; the donor of the lamp would essentially
be worshipping within the temple confnes whenever the lamp was lit. It is possible
the present fgural lamp represents a similar concept. The current fgure is also
distinguished by the unusual elephant-form base, and the small birds that rest on
both the lamp and on the fgure’s left shoulder.

Compare the present work with a brass fgure of Radha, sold at Sotheby’s New
York, 21 March 2019, lot 917; while that example predates the present work by a few
centuries, they both share the same robust physique and expressive facial features
that are characteristic for Orissan sculpture, and demonstrates the continuity of style
over a long period.
See, also, a smaller brass fgure of a devi, dated to the seventeenth century or later,
from the collection of Florence and Herbert Irving, sold at Christie’s New York, 21
March 2019, lot 1105.

188