Page 28 - 2019 September 11th Christie's New York Chiense Art Himalayan bronzes and art

THE PROPERTY OF DOROTHY AND RICHARD SHERWOOD

307
A BRONZE FIGURE OF A RAKSHASI
INDONESIA, CENTRAL JAVA, 10TH-11TH CENTURY
4¡ in. (11 cm.) high

$12,000-18,000

PROVENANCE
The Pan-Asian Collection (Christian Humann), by 1976.
Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, New York, by 1982.
The Pan-Asian Collection; Sotheby’s New York, 5 October 1990, lot 102.
EXHIBITED
On Loan to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (L.76.24.13), by 1976.
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. 196, no. 119.
The iconography of the present figure, with bared fangs, bulging eyes, and unusual
attire, make identification of the present figure dificult. In The Sensuous Immortals,
Pal speculates that she perhaps represents a rakshasi, a semi-divine ogress
belonging to the same class of demons as asuras. Less likely in his estimation is
that she represents a dakini from the Buddhist pantheon.

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. 196.

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