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Lot Essay
Among the South Indian sculptural traditions, bronze sculptures depicting non-figural subjects are exceedingly rare. The present lot depicts a bronze chakra, one of the four main attributes of Vishnu (and his avatars) including the lotus, the conch shell and the mace.
It is possible that the current work was part of a larger assemblage, similar to another thirteenth-century bronze chakra from the Collection of Anthony d'Offay, sold at Christie's New York, 19 September 2002, lot 50 (Fig. 1); or it may have been created as part of a larger aniconic set representing Vishnu’s four attributes. The chakra rests upon a lotus base, with beaded edges and twenty-one flaming spokes. At the center of the sculpture is a kirtimukha or face of glory, encircled by lotus petals, a decorative motif repeated in the d’Offay example.
The overall composition and flame motif provide a rubric for dating the sculpture. Chakras from the Chola period, more widely visible in Vishnu sculptures, were adorned with openwork spokes and a four-flame motif, as represented in the current work. Only in the late Vijayanagara period are chakras adorned with tassels and other appendages—for further discussion, see C. Sivaramamurti, South Indian Bronzes, New Delhi, 1963, pp. 38-39, figs. 2c, 3b and 3c. Also compare the current work with a circa fifteenth-century example of a bronze chakra shrine in the Government Museum, Chennai, illustrated by R. Kannan, Manual on the Bronzes in the Government Museum, Chennai, 2003, p. 180-182, SI. No. 13.
The artisans of the Chola period used the cire perdue or lost-wax casting technique. The figure or subject to be cast is first modeled in malleable beeswax, and the fine details carved and incised with a stylus. Once ready, the image is hardened in cold water and covered with several layers of clay, which is then fired, allowing the wax to melt and escape through sprues, leaving a hollow clay mold. The mold is then filled with molten bronze and allowed to cool. Once the clay is broken away, the result is a nearly finished bronze image, which awaits the finishing work from the artisan casters.
The artisans themselves were required to take rites of abstinence during the casting process, thus ensuring ritual purification of the images themselves (V. Dehejia, Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India, London, 2006, p. 21). Unlike other bronze casting traditions where a clay or plaster model is retained, this particular form of bronze casting makes each work unique.
It is possible that the current work was part of a larger assemblage, similar to another thirteenth-century bronze chakra from the Collection of Anthony d'Offay, sold at Christie's New York, 19 September 2002, lot 50 (Fig. 1); or it may have been created as part of a larger aniconic set representing Vishnu’s four attributes. The chakra rests upon a lotus base, with beaded edges and twenty-one flaming spokes. At the center of the sculpture is a kirtimukha or face of glory, encircled by lotus petals, a decorative motif repeated in the d’Offay example.
The overall composition and flame motif provide a rubric for dating the sculpture. Chakras from the Chola period, more widely visible in Vishnu sculptures, were adorned with openwork spokes and a four-flame motif, as represented in the current work. Only in the late Vijayanagara period are chakras adorned with tassels and other appendages—for further discussion, see C. Sivaramamurti, South Indian Bronzes, New Delhi, 1963, pp. 38-39, figs. 2c, 3b and 3c. Also compare the current work with a circa fifteenth-century example of a bronze chakra shrine in the Government Museum, Chennai, illustrated by R. Kannan, Manual on the Bronzes in the Government Museum, Chennai, 2003, p. 180-182, SI. No. 13.
The artisans of the Chola period used the cire perdue or lost-wax casting technique. The figure or subject to be cast is first modeled in malleable beeswax, and the fine details carved and incised with a stylus. Once ready, the image is hardened in cold water and covered with several layers of clay, which is then fired, allowing the wax to melt and escape through sprues, leaving a hollow clay mold. The mold is then filled with molten bronze and allowed to cool. Once the clay is broken away, the result is a nearly finished bronze image, which awaits the finishing work from the artisan casters.
The artisans themselves were required to take rites of abstinence during the casting process, thus ensuring ritual purification of the images themselves (V. Dehejia, Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India, London, 2006, p. 21). Unlike other bronze casting traditions where a clay or plaster model is retained, this particular form of bronze casting makes each work unique.