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Lot Essay
A large corpus of stele sculpture composed of dense gray stone remain from the Pala period in India (8th-12th century), including this horizontal scene depicting a reclining Vishnu. Of the swathes of both Hindu and Buddhist sculptures that remain, by the ninth century, little stylistic differentiations exist between the two religions. The format is largely the same, all panels which are frontally conceived, with little accommodations for spatial perspectives. The steles are divided into two sections, a lower zone representing the terrestrial realm, and the upper panel showing the celestial sphere of the deities. All these elements exist in this example.
Here, Vishnu reclines with his left leg crossed holding his attributes, propping his head and crown against the arm of a divan. At his feet, a goddess massages his feet. Attending him on either side are his wife, Lakshmi at left, holding a fly whisk, and Sarasvati who holds the vina on the right. Arising from Vishnu's navel is an unfurling lotus vine which carries a three-faced Brahma. In the register below, positioned within scrolling vines are two kneeling devotees.
Vishnu is by far the most common subject within the Hindu canon of sculptures from the Pala period, his image which is largely standardized in these formats. Most examples show the god standing in a frontal posture holding a chakra, conch, mace, and lotus, and wearing royal garb of jewelry and crown, and the yajnopavita, or sacred thread, which falls in beads across his chest. The settings reveal a series of gods, demigods, and worshippers. Vertical stele of this types are frequently represented and include one in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (57.51.7a–g), another published in Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree, 1989, no. 36, as well as several sold at Christie's, New York, 12 September 2009, lot 579 and Sotheby's, New York, 20 March 2013, lot 273.
By contrast, few Pala-period steles present Vishnu reclining in a horizontal format, making this iconographic program comparatively rare. Horizontal compositions are more commonly associated with depictions of Shiva Grahapati (e.g. The Huntington Archives, 6330) or collective groups of figures including the planetary deities, known as navagraha (e.g. Sotheby's, 20 September 2021, lot 366). Two known horizontal Pala examples depicting Vishnu in his four-armed form show the god reclining on a divan, with an attendant at his feet and Brahma in relief floating on a lotus seat (The Huntington Archives 6280 and 6072). The former example depicts Vishnu resting his head along his hand with his right leg crossed, closely paralleling the posture seen here. This example also shows two attending females, the left, Lakshmi, who holds the fly whisk over her left shoulder. Similar to the present sculpture, the latter Huntington example depicts Brahma arising out of a vine from Vishnu's navel. In both of these Pala examples, Vishnu is sheltered beneath a canopy of serpent heads, identifying him explicitly as Vishnu Anantasayana. While the present relief lacks an overt serpent canopy, the reclining posture, divan couch, and navel-born Brahma strongly suggest its affiliation with Anantasayana imagery as adapted in certain Pala-period variants.
An important early prototype for Vishnu Anantasayana appears in the Gupta-period relief at the Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh (fifth-sixth century). Additional eleventh-century sculptures from Uttar Pradesh depict related iconographic schemes (see Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.79.111, and Christie’s, New York, 23 March 2010, lot 164), both depicting Brahma arising from the navel of a reclining Vishnu and Lakshmi attending at his feet. As Huntington has observed, elements of early Pala-period Hindu imagery derived from north-central Indian artistic idioms, transmitted eastward by brahmans actively strengthening Hinduism in the region (Huntington, The Art of Ancient India, 1984, p. 407). This cultural transmission may then account for the programmatic similarities observed among these sculptures.
Here, Vishnu reclines with his left leg crossed holding his attributes, propping his head and crown against the arm of a divan. At his feet, a goddess massages his feet. Attending him on either side are his wife, Lakshmi at left, holding a fly whisk, and Sarasvati who holds the vina on the right. Arising from Vishnu's navel is an unfurling lotus vine which carries a three-faced Brahma. In the register below, positioned within scrolling vines are two kneeling devotees.
Vishnu is by far the most common subject within the Hindu canon of sculptures from the Pala period, his image which is largely standardized in these formats. Most examples show the god standing in a frontal posture holding a chakra, conch, mace, and lotus, and wearing royal garb of jewelry and crown, and the yajnopavita, or sacred thread, which falls in beads across his chest. The settings reveal a series of gods, demigods, and worshippers. Vertical stele of this types are frequently represented and include one in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (57.51.7a–g), another published in Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree, 1989, no. 36, as well as several sold at Christie's, New York, 12 September 2009, lot 579 and Sotheby's, New York, 20 March 2013, lot 273.
By contrast, few Pala-period steles present Vishnu reclining in a horizontal format, making this iconographic program comparatively rare. Horizontal compositions are more commonly associated with depictions of Shiva Grahapati (e.g. The Huntington Archives, 6330) or collective groups of figures including the planetary deities, known as navagraha (e.g. Sotheby's, 20 September 2021, lot 366). Two known horizontal Pala examples depicting Vishnu in his four-armed form show the god reclining on a divan, with an attendant at his feet and Brahma in relief floating on a lotus seat (The Huntington Archives 6280 and 6072). The former example depicts Vishnu resting his head along his hand with his right leg crossed, closely paralleling the posture seen here. This example also shows two attending females, the left, Lakshmi, who holds the fly whisk over her left shoulder. Similar to the present sculpture, the latter Huntington example depicts Brahma arising out of a vine from Vishnu's navel. In both of these Pala examples, Vishnu is sheltered beneath a canopy of serpent heads, identifying him explicitly as Vishnu Anantasayana. While the present relief lacks an overt serpent canopy, the reclining posture, divan couch, and navel-born Brahma strongly suggest its affiliation with Anantasayana imagery as adapted in certain Pala-period variants.
An important early prototype for Vishnu Anantasayana appears in the Gupta-period relief at the Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh (fifth-sixth century). Additional eleventh-century sculptures from Uttar Pradesh depict related iconographic schemes (see Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.79.111, and Christie’s, New York, 23 March 2010, lot 164), both depicting Brahma arising from the navel of a reclining Vishnu and Lakshmi attending at his feet. As Huntington has observed, elements of early Pala-period Hindu imagery derived from north-central Indian artistic idioms, transmitted eastward by brahmans actively strengthening Hinduism in the region (Huntington, The Art of Ancient India, 1984, p. 407). This cultural transmission may then account for the programmatic similarities observed among these sculptures.