INDIA, MADHYA PRADESH, 11TH CENTURY

As in the story of Mayadevi giving birth to Buddha while grasping the branches of the sal tree, salabhanjika means "breaking the branches of the sal tree." Over time, this literal translation combined with belief that spirits of fecundity live in trees to produce the image of an indescribably beautiful woman grasping the branches and causing them to burst forth in fruit and bloom. The depiction of women under then mango tree has been a favorite subject for bracket figures since antiquity. Derived from Gupta prototypes, medieval Indian sculpture such as the present example move past the restrained sensuality of the earlier period and use decoration to emphasize contours in addition to volume. For related examples see P. Pal, Indian Sculpture, vol. 2, 1988, cat. no. 44, p. 114f, showing a less complete torso from the Lenart Collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the companion pieces at the Norton Simon Museum, see P. Pal, Art from the Indian Subcontinent, 2003, cat. no. 87; and M. Lerner and S. Kossak, The Arts of South and Southeast Asia, 1994, fig. 44, p. 49 for a figure at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Another related figure, formerly from the Pan Asian Collection, was sold at Christie's New York, 30 March 2006, lot 66.