Page 74 - 2019 September 11th Christie's New York Chiense Art Himalayan bronzes and art

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE NEW YORK CITY COLLECTION
330
A BRONZE FIGURE OF VISHNU
SOUTH INDIA, TAMIL NADU, VIJAYANAGARA
PERIOD, CIRCA 1500
5º in. (13.5 cm.) high

$4,000-6,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired in Calcutta, 1992, by repute.
A classic example of late Vijayanagara period sculpture,
compare the broad facial features, the necklaces with
heavy lozenges, the fame style and motif of the
accoutrements, the detailed girdle and the striped
dhoti with another sixteenth-century bronze fgure
of Vishnu, illustrated by R. Kannan in Manual on the
Bronzes in the Government Museum, Chennai, Chennai,
2003, p 225-7, SI. no. 69.

330

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE NEW YORK CITY COLLECTION

331
A BRONZE FIGURE OF A NAYANAR
SOUTH INDIA, TAMIL NADU, VIJAYANAGARA
PERIOD, 14TH CENTURY OR LATER
6º in. (15.9 cm.) high

$4,000-6,000

PROVENANCE
Honeychurch Antiques, Hong Kong, 1995, by repute.
The sixty-three canonized nayanar are the Shaivite
saint-poets of South India, immortalized in bronze
sculpture from the eighth century. The present
work depicts an unidentifed nayanar, distinguished
by his close-cropped hair, short dhoti and ritual
accoutrements: holding a ghanta or bell in the proper
right hand, and a damaru or drum (or possibly a diyya
or lamp) in the proper left hand. Compare the snailshell
curls and brief dhoti to a fourteenth-century bronze
fgure of nayanar Manikkavachakar, illustrated by R.
Kannan in Manual on the Bronzes in the Government
Museum, Chennai, Chennai, 2003, p 118-120, SI. no. 53.
331