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Lot Essay
This gilt-copper figure of Hevajra is immediately recognizable as a Newar work of art, with its visibly coppery metal and delicately-cast lobbed nimbus that adorn him. Hevajra holds a skull cup in each of his sixteen hands, with eight supporting an animal representing the Eight Diseases and the other eight supporting deities propitiated to remedy said diseases. His consort Nairatmya held to his body with one leg wrapped around his waist and holding a skull cup and curved knife in her hands behind his head. The two figures lunge to the right in archer posture. Both deities are adorned with jewelry made from human bone. Hevajra wears a garland of freshly severed heads, while she wears a garland of skulls.
This figure represents the sculptural tradition at the height of the Malla period (1201-1779), during which the Kathmandu Valley witnessed a significant flourishing of trade, agriculture, religious practices, and cultural expressions. The Malla sovereigns, ardent supporters of both Buddhism and Hinduism, played a pivotal role in the production of devotional art. During thisepoch, the Newar populace—the indigenous inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley—asserted their dominance in various artistic endeavors, both within the valley and across the broader Himalayan region.
The present bronze was collection by Bernard Seguy, a European climber who championed many ambitious climbs in Nepal's peaks. The present figure exhibits a blissful expression, in contrast to the many wrathful depictions of contemporaneous Hevajra figures. The faces and the surface of the bronze have been worn smooth by centuries of devotional practice, following a tradition from India involving the pouring of offering substances like butter and milk mixed with saffron directly onto the statue as a form of worship. Compare the iconography and overall sculptural style of the present figure with a gilt bronze figure of Hevajra Sold at Christie’s NY on 20 March 2019, lot 684.
This figure represents the sculptural tradition at the height of the Malla period (1201-1779), during which the Kathmandu Valley witnessed a significant flourishing of trade, agriculture, religious practices, and cultural expressions. The Malla sovereigns, ardent supporters of both Buddhism and Hinduism, played a pivotal role in the production of devotional art. During thisepoch, the Newar populace—the indigenous inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley—asserted their dominance in various artistic endeavors, both within the valley and across the broader Himalayan region.
The present bronze was collection by Bernard Seguy, a European climber who championed many ambitious climbs in Nepal's peaks. The present figure exhibits a blissful expression, in contrast to the many wrathful depictions of contemporaneous Hevajra figures. The faces and the surface of the bronze have been worn smooth by centuries of devotional practice, following a tradition from India involving the pouring of offering substances like butter and milk mixed with saffron directly onto the statue as a form of worship. Compare the iconography and overall sculptural style of the present figure with a gilt bronze figure of Hevajra Sold at Christie’s NY on 20 March 2019, lot 684.