Page 8 - Bonhams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art March 2019

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A GREEN STONE STELE OF GANESHA A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF A DEITY
WESTERN INDIA, CIRCA 17TH CENTURY NORTHEASTERN INDIA, BENGAL, 18TH/19TH CENTURY
25 in. (63.5 cm) high 16 3/4 in. (42.5cm) high
$6,000 - 8,000 $5,000 - 7,000
This lively and rather lithe form of Ganesha dances with relative ease. The position of the arms and the hieratic posture suggests this figure
He is attended by four ganas and a playful rat reaching for his raised represents a form of Krishna emphasizing his status as an avatar of
right foot. Vishnu. A six-armed cosmic representation of Krishna in the Parson
Collection, attributed to Odisha or Bengal, has the same facial type
Stylistically, the arched back panel with broad lotus leaves carved in and rounded limbs (Pal, Puja and Peity, Santa Barbara, 2016, p.38,
low relief, the simplified jewelry, and the stele’s green stone, compare fig.24). Also compare a four armed seated figure of Ganga in the
with a pair of celestial musicians in the Norton Simon Museum (Pal, Art Bhansali Collection and a crawling Krishna in the Walters Art Museum
from the Indian Subcontinent, Pasadena, 2003, pp.160-1, nos.120- (Pal, The Elegant Image, New Orleans, 2011, p.79, no.40, and Pal,
1). Pal dates these to the late 15th century, and they are related Desire and Devotion, Baltimore, 2001, p.85, no.27, respectively).
to another in the Reitberg Museum (Lohuizen-de Leeuw, Indische A related Fluting Krishna was sold at Bonhams, New York, 17
Skulpturen, Zurich, 1964, no. 33). Another related stele of Vishnu and September 2014, lot 100.
Lakshmi is attributed c.1500-1700 and thought to be made of chlorite
or serpentine (Cummins, Vishnu, New York, 2011, p.95, no.26). Provenance
Private Collection, Berlin, acquired in India, 1960s
Provenance Lempertz, 9 December 2016, lot 610
Collection of John Edward Marshall, Massachusetts, acquired in 1968
Thence by descent
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