Page 48 - Bonhams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art March 2019

848
A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SHIVA SUKHASANAMURTI
SOUTH INDIA, VIJAYANAGARA PERIOD, 15TH/16TH CENTURY
14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm) high
$40,000 - 60,000

This South Indian sculpture of Shiva is a tour de force of powerful modelling and rich detail.
Shiva’s seated pose achieves a commanding width while his broad torso and shoulders
mimic the shape of a bull’s head. Shiva’s large hands have strong pointed nails. His hand-
some face has a pronounced smile and wide eyes to engage the viewer in darshan. His tall
headdress is an exquisite arrangement of matted locks and crown leaves topped by a lotus
bud and completed by a crescent and an effigy of the goddess Ganga, the personification
of India’s sacred river Ganges, rarely seen on sculptures of Shiva other than Nataraja.

The sculptor has closely followed the prescribed iconography for a depiction of Shiva
Sukhasanamurti: a handsome manifestation of Shiva literally meaning “pleasant posture”
(see Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography, Vol.2, New York, 1968, pp.129-30). This mani-
festation shows Shiva holding an axe and deer in his back hands, symbols of his sure vic-
tory over enemies and dominion over animals. The gestures (mudras) of his front hands of-
fer devotees protection (abhaya) and wish-fulfilment (varada). Shiva Sukhasanamurti wears
silk garments and a tiger skin around his legs, a sacred chord across his chest (yajnopavita),
serpent bands around his biceps (sarpa-kankanas), and different earrings in each ear: one
ring-shaped, the other in the form of a makara.

The bronze sculpture is an accomplished example of the mature Vijayanagara period. Fol-
lowing the schema outlined by Sivaramamurti, one of the period’s telltale stylistic charac-
teristics is the present positioning of the deer facing outward while turning his neck toward
Shiva; later bronzes depict the deer facing outward entirely (Sivaramamurti, South Indian
Bronzes, New Delhi, 1963, p.41). Other Vijayanagara-period features of this bronze include
the axe’s barrel shape, the rendering of the sacred chord (yajnopavita) separating in three
strands across the chest, and certain adornments such as the beaded bands around the
legs, the flowers on his tresses, and the splendid jeweled band above the navel (udarab-
handa) (ibid., pp.29-41). A 15th-century Vijayanagara bronze of Saint Sundara in the Norton
Simon Museum (F.1972.19.6.S) also has a similar, notably fine, treatment of its headdress, a
similar facial type, and similarly shaped lotus petals around its base.

Provenance
Sotheby’s, New York, 24 September 2004, lot 35

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