9th Nov, 2022 12:00
Asian Works of Art
182
A JAVANESE VOLCANIC STONE RELIEF DEPICTING BRAHMA AND SARASWATI
A JAVANESE VOLCANIC STONE RELIEF DEPICTING BRAHMA AND SARASWATI, INDONESIA, 8TH / 9TH CENTURY, each standing on a lotus, wearing tall headdresses, the god with four heads and four arms, his consort with four arms, his vahana, the goose, just visible at his feet, 75 x 43 x 19cm
Provenance: Collection of a deceased diplomat, thence by descent, thought to have been acquired in the 1960s.
Brahma is generally depicted bearded, but there are exceptions. For an Indian example without beard in the British Museum, see inv. no. 1963,0217.1. Also notable here is the relative equality of scale between the male and female figures. For a more typical bearded figure of Brahma, from Singasari, Eastern Java, see Bernet-Kempers 1959, pl.242.
A JAVANESE VOLCANIC STONE RELIEF DEPICTING BRAHMA AND SARASWATI, INDONESIA, 8TH / 9TH CENTURY, each standing on a lotus, wearing tall headdresses, the god with four heads and four arms, his consort with four arms, his vahana, the goose, just visible at his feet, 75 x 43 x 19cm
Provenance: Collection of a deceased diplomat, thence by descent, thought to have been acquired in the 1960s.
Brahma is generally depicted bearded, but there are exceptions. For an Indian example without beard in the British Museum, see inv. no. 1963,0217.1. Also notable here is the relative equality of scale between the male and female figures. For a more typical bearded figure of Brahma, from Singasari, Eastern Java, see Bernet-Kempers 1959, pl.242.
Auction: Asian Works of Art, 9th Nov, 2022
