NEPALESE GILT-COPPER FIGURE OF INDRA
QING DYNASTY, 18TH-19TH CENTURY
£3,780
Auction: 08 November 2024 from 10:00 GMT
Description
清 銅鎏金因陀羅坐像
wearing a diaphanous dhoti, seated in elegant maharajalilasana with right arm resting on the raised right thigh, the right hand in vitarka mudra and the left supporting his weight, two stems of flowers flanking the shoulders, the right holding Indra’s emblem the vajra thunderbolt
Dimensions
12.5cm high; 540g
Footnote
Distinguished by the characteristic horizontal mark on the forehead indicating a third eye, Indra was the supreme Vedic god of early India, the bearer of the thunderbolt (vajra), associated with rain. In later Hinduism, he retained his role as King of the Gods but ceased to command popular following as a cult deity. In Nepal however, he continued to be worshipped by both Hindus and Buddhists as the master of the atmosphere, celebrated in the annual eight-day festival of Indra-jatra.
A highly comparable fifteenth-century Nepalese gilt copper Indra, note the similarity of the posture, hand gestures, jewellery, flower design and size, sold at Sotheby's New York, 22 September 2020, lot 321. Also see an example formerly in the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection and now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, museum number M.69.13.4.
Please note this lot will be offered with no reserve. 本拍品不設底價