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10th-12th Century Srivijaya Bronze Image of Shiva browse these categories for related items... All Items: Antiques:Regional Art:Asian:Southeast Asian:Sculpture: Pre 1492: item # 890131 Please refer to our stock # 1111 when inquiring.
Boran Asian Art Grays, 1-7 Davies Mews, Mayfair, London, W1 0044 (0)795 422 8735 Guest Book Price On Request |
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Details: A rare and very attractive bronze example of a Srivijaya image of the Hindu deity Shiva. This fleshy well proportioned Shiva is standing in Samabhanga with three hands holding attributes of a water gourd, a rosary, and a hand drum with his forth hand held in Abhaya Mudra, which combined with the hand drum make this image very unusual. However, the hand drum is associated with the Bhairava form of Shiva which we know from surviving images was worshipped across much of maritime South East Asia. He is wearing a dhoti with flared sashes trailing down both sides of his thighs, an Upavita, a body sash and meditation band. His jeweled ornaments included bangles, ornate armlets, earrings and a wonderfully detailed foliate crown around his tall Jatamakuta. Shiva’s finely modeled face is chubby and content made up of incised eyebrows, a broad nose, pouting lips and elongated earlobes. The hair style and garment seem to present a simplified version of those seen in the standard type of Shiva images of maritime South East Asia of which Peninsular Thailand was an important part. The uncommon mode of wearing a long Upavita in combination with the body sash has been noticed in some 9th to 12th century sculptures from peninsular Thailand as Griswold notes in his 1960 exhibition guide The Arts of Thailand. The term Srivijaya is loosely used to describe the art and kingdom of Sumatra, Peninsular Thailand and Malaysia between the eighth and thirteenth centuries. The kingdom’s capital of Palembang on Sumatra was at the heart of a critical transit point, with cultural currents and cross currents from all directions with artistic influences as various as the religions inspiring them. Srivijaya was a melting pot of artistic styles; Gupta, Pala, Sailendra, Dvaravati, Si Thep and Phnom Da, all wonderful in their own right, but when mixed with the already existent local conventions made for beautiful Buddhist and Hindu images of both bronze and stone. Religiously a stronghold of Vajrayana Buddhism with strong ties to Nalanda, Srivijaya attracted pilgrims and scholars from many parts of Asia. The mix of Mahayana and Bhramanic ideas with a touch of Theravada made for a wonderfully rich variety of sculpture, of which this piece is one. Age: 10th-12th Century. Height: On base 15 cm, off base 11.8 cm. Provenance: This piece was once part of the Alex Biancardi collection. |
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