Page 72 - 2019 September 11th Christie's New York Chiense Art Himalayan bronzes and art

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE NEW YORK CITY COLLECTION

329
A BRONZE FIGURE OF UMA
SOUTH INDIA, TAMIL NADU, CHOLA PERIOD,
12TH-13TH CENTURY
17¿ in. (43.5 cm.) high

$100,000-150,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired from C.T. Loo & Cie. (Frank Caro), New York,
22 March 1974.
In a private New York collection since 1974, this
richly-patinated and large-scale bronze fgure of Uma
is a majestic example of late Chola-period sculpture.
With a curvaceous fgure and wearing the ornaments
of a queen, the goddess is the embodiment of the
ideals of Indian beauty. In Tamil poetry of the bhakti
or devotional saints, the exquisite beauty of Uma is
espoused through metaphors of the beauties found
in nature: thighs tapered like the plantain tree; waist
slender like a creeper; breasts as if golden vessels
flled with the nectar of the gods; and an elegant gait
expressed through the tribhanga or triple-bend pose,
all beautifully expressed in the present lot.

The expert craftspeople of the Chola period produced
bronze fgures of the goddess Uma that are among
the most sensuous images in the corpus of Indian art.
The commission and production of such processional
bronzes was a meritorious act by royal or wealthy
devotees. While the construction of temples was
considered the ultimate demonstration of wealth and
power, the commissioning of bronzes was within the
fnancial accessibility of the nobility, merchant and
priestly classes. As the cost of production, in precious
materials and manual labor, was relatively high, the
production of bronze images exhibited dedication
and devotion to the Shaivite tradition, which was
intrinsically tied to the political power structure of
the Chola empire. In this period, Uma and her consort
became the intense focus of devotion.

Compare the tiered karandamukuta, the elegant splay
of curls along the back of the neck, and the necklaces
with heavy lozenges with another twelfth-century
bronze fgure of Uma sold in at Christie’s New York,
15 March 2017, lot 240. Also compare the robust
physiognomy of the current work—including the
broad shoulders, attenuated waist, rounded hips and
voluptuous thighs—with a thirteenth-century bronze
fgure of Uma formerly in the H. Stocklin Collection,
Basel, sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2011,
lot 416. The twelfth-thirteenth century date is further
supported by the triple line or trivali tarangini incised in
the belly, a late-Chola convention, as well as the tiered
karandamukuta—the karanda or tiers which increase in
number toward the early Vijayanagara period.

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