Page 69 - 2020 Sept 22 Himalayin and Indian Works of Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art | Sotheby's

Indian, Hi ma layan & Southeast Asian Works of Art
New York |22 Sep 2020 | 12:00 PM EDT

Lot 350

A BLACK STONE STELE DEPI CTING SUR YA , INDIA , PALA PERIOD, 12TH CENTUR Y
Estimate: 30,000 - 50,000 USD

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE JAPANESE COLLECTOR
A BLACK STONE STELE DEPICTING SURYA
INDIA, PALA PERIOD, 12TH CENTURY

Height 33 in. (84 cm)

standing in sampada and holding two lotus flowers, wearing a diaphanous pleated dhoti, beaded upavita, foliate collar, circular ear
ornaments, the bearded Pingala to his right and the youthful Danda to his left, rampant viyalas trampling elephants in the side
panels, two flying apsaras bearing garlands flanking a kirttimukha mask above, the faceted pedestal carved showing the seven
horses drawing his celestial chariot

Provenance
Collection of a Japanese Diplomat, acquired in Bangladesh in the early 1970s

Catalogue Note
The sun god here is represented in his characteristic frontal posture, the deity dominating the composition, surrounded with his
many attendants. Surya is displayed with the characteristic richness and detailed elaboration of the style as seen in later Pala
stone sculptures. For another example showing Surya with ornate detailing, see S.L. and J.C. Huntington, Leaves from a Bodhi
Tree: The Art of Pala India (8th-12th centuries) and Its International Legacy, Seattle, 1990, cat. 40.

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