NEPAL, 10TH/11TH CENTURY

Details

A Gray Stone Chaturmukhalinga
Nepal, 10th/11th Century
The lower section roughly hewn rising from a square section to a hexagonal shaft, the top finely carved with four faces representing different aspects of the God, each with a jeweled crown
22¼ in. (56.4 cm.) high

Provenance

Previously sold by Sotheby's London, 23 November 1987, lot 35

Literature

N. Rao, Boundaries & Transformations, Masterworks of Indian and Southeast Asian Sculpture from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. William T. Price, 1997, p. 24, fig. 21

Exhibited

N. Rao, Boundaries & Transformations, Masterworks of Indian and Southeast Asian Sculpture from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. William T. Price, 1997, p. 24, fig. 21

Lot Essay

This linga incorporates all elements, with the square base representing the earth, the octagonal mid-section the atmosphere, and circular top carved with four heads the sky. The lower sections are left in the rough as the would be buried in the earth; compare with a related example in the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, see P. Pal, A Collecting Odyssey, 1997, p. 17, cat. no. 9.

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