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拍品专文
This exquisitely carved and finely detailed sculpture depicts Shiva and Parvati in tender embrace. Shiva sits on a lotus base with Parvati nestled on his ample lap. With his left arms he holds aloft a skull cup and caresses her breast, and in his right hands he holds a trident with a snake, while benevolently tilting her chin to look at him. In turn, she embraces him with her right hand while holding a lotus bud in her left. Both figures wear striated diaphanous dhotis, beaded jewelry carved in high relief, and beaded foliate tiaras securing their elaborately dressed hair. Their facial features bear influence inherited from the Gupta period – full lips, finely arched eyebrows and wide eyes with delineated upper and lower lids. Below the lotus sits the couple’s animal vehicles, the bull and the lion, with Nandi looking up at the heavenly couple. The group is set against an egg-shaped backplate with a cross-hatched border, the shape echoing the story of Shiva with the Cosmic Egg.
The finely-grained stone retains its rich color and polished surface, further highlighting the deep carving. The jewelry for both figures is rendered with great attention to detail. For example, the sculptor has skillfully conveyed the heaviness of the metal that comprise Shiva’s earrings, so much so that his earlobes are extended and splay out to allow the earrings to rest on his shoulders. This artistic device is repeated in later examples, including a diademed Buddha from Nalanda, published in S. L. Huntington, The “Pala-Sena” Schools of Sculpture, 1984, fig.133.
The Pala dynasty was greatly esteemed for its arts and culture, with scholars and merchants alike traveling from all over Asia, disseminating its visual culture across the region. Its historical importance was recognized by the great collector and dealer, Nasli M. Heeramaneck, in whose collection this work once belonged. A bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara dated to ninth-tenth centuries, also from the Heeramaneck Collection and now at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, shows nearly identical modeling of the body and facial features, including proportion of the jatakamukuta in relation to the body, the delineation of the eyebrows and full lips (see A. Heeramaneck, Masterpieces of Indian Sculpture from the former collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck, 1979, fig.115 and LACMA acc.no.M.81.8.3). Appreciation of Pala-period works continues to grow, with new connoisseurs collecting rare and important works from this period.
The finely-grained stone retains its rich color and polished surface, further highlighting the deep carving. The jewelry for both figures is rendered with great attention to detail. For example, the sculptor has skillfully conveyed the heaviness of the metal that comprise Shiva’s earrings, so much so that his earlobes are extended and splay out to allow the earrings to rest on his shoulders. This artistic device is repeated in later examples, including a diademed Buddha from Nalanda, published in S. L. Huntington, The “Pala-Sena” Schools of Sculpture, 1984, fig.133.
The Pala dynasty was greatly esteemed for its arts and culture, with scholars and merchants alike traveling from all over Asia, disseminating its visual culture across the region. Its historical importance was recognized by the great collector and dealer, Nasli M. Heeramaneck, in whose collection this work once belonged. A bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara dated to ninth-tenth centuries, also from the Heeramaneck Collection and now at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, shows nearly identical modeling of the body and facial features, including proportion of the jatakamukuta in relation to the body, the delineation of the eyebrows and full lips (see A. Heeramaneck, Masterpieces of Indian Sculpture from the former collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck, 1979, fig.115 and LACMA acc.no.M.81.8.3). Appreciation of Pala-period works continues to grow, with new connoisseurs collecting rare and important works from this period.