.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This superbly carved sculpture evolves from the Gupta stylistic tradition, with flowing lines, well-rounded forms, and sensuous expression of the lips. The jewelry of the goddess is particularly noteworthy in identifying the date and region from which the sculpture comes. In addition to the armbands, anklets and multiple necklaces, she wears two different earrings, a hoop made of flower buds in her right ear and a thick foliate circle in her left. Her girdle is composed of a floral belt with two lion or kirttimukha masks at front issuing loops from their mouths, and two chains hanging straight down over her thighs, both terminating in corresponding peepul leaves as found in her tiara. The contrast within her jewelry of the soft, floral elements on her right and the bolder, more rugged motifs on her left could indicate that she is a matrika, a Hindu goddess who is the counterpart to a male figure and embodies both male and female aspects within herself.
With regard to attribution, this work shares many traits with those found in contemporaneous figures from Kashmir. The stone color, pose of the central figure and the compositional relationship between the two figures are reminiscent of similar Kashmiri works depicting a goddess and her attendants (see a Kashmiri late ninth-century stone figure of Durga in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 1984.488). However, the differences in facial features, headdress and hairstyle, modeling of the torso, clothing and the extent of the hip-sway and turned-out foot exhibit similarities with works found further south, in Uttar Pradesh.
Compare with the Parvati from an Umamaheshvara stele in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum (fig.1), also from ninth-century Almora. Parvati's facial features, including the eyes, eyebrows, curling hair at the temples and full lips mirror those seen on the current figure. Though seated, one can compare Parvati's curvaceous figure with the present goddess and find them nearly identical in proportions, and identically clad in a long dhoti with striated bands. Her jewelry including the tiara, armbands, anklets, multiple necklaces, two different earrings and belts with the pendant chains terminating in peepul leaves, are closely related.
With regard to attribution, this work shares many traits with those found in contemporaneous figures from Kashmir. The stone color, pose of the central figure and the compositional relationship between the two figures are reminiscent of similar Kashmiri works depicting a goddess and her attendants (see a Kashmiri late ninth-century stone figure of Durga in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 1984.488). However, the differences in facial features, headdress and hairstyle, modeling of the torso, clothing and the extent of the hip-sway and turned-out foot exhibit similarities with works found further south, in Uttar Pradesh.
Compare with the Parvati from an Umamaheshvara stele in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum (fig.1), also from ninth-century Almora. Parvati's facial features, including the eyes, eyebrows, curling hair at the temples and full lips mirror those seen on the current figure. Though seated, one can compare Parvati's curvaceous figure with the present goddess and find them nearly identical in proportions, and identically clad in a long dhoti with striated bands. Her jewelry including the tiara, armbands, anklets, multiple necklaces, two different earrings and belts with the pendant chains terminating in peepul leaves, are closely related.