A BRONZE FIGURE OF IVA, seated in virasana on a lotus-base moulded with a yoni and linga in front, his four hands holding the broken handle of probably a triula, a damaged akshamala, kamandalu and probably a lotus-bud, wearing, snake-upavita, dhoti, body-ornaments, the face with downcast expression, aquiline nose, pouting lips, elongated earlobes, crown and high jatamakuta adorned with two worn-out circular plaques which represent the crescent moon and the skull-ornament, pearl bordered halo behind, blackish and dark-green patina and the inside with small label stating Gulbenkian Museum, Durham, nr.5, Java, East Javanese style, 10th/11th Century

細節

A BRONZE FIGURE OF IVA, seated in virasana on a lotus-base moulded with a yoni and linga in front, his four hands holding the broken handle of probably a triula, a damaged akshamala, kamandalu and probably a lotus-bud, wearing, snake-upavita, dhoti, body-ornaments, the face with downcast expression, aquiline nose, pouting lips, elongated earlobes, crown and high jatamakuta adorned with two worn-out circular plaques which represent the crescent moon and the skull-ornament, pearl bordered halo behind, blackish and dark-green patina and the inside with small label stating Gulbenkian Museum, Durham, nr.5, Java, East Javanese style, 10th/11th Century
15.1 cm high

拍品專文

This image of iva displays an unusual set of attributes. The waterpot is seen in the back left-hand instead of the fly-whisk and a lotus appears in one of the front hands. The sitting stance and the presence of the lotus remind us of many depictions of iva from the Dieng plateau (see With 1920: pls. 93, 95 and 96; Bernet Kempers 1959: pl. 28) and from the Kediri region (see With 1920: pl.144). A few bronze images of iva in sitting posture are also preserved in the Linden Museum, Stuttgart (see Van Lohuizen - de Leeuw 1984: cat. 32 and 33). One of them also displays a lotus in one of the hands. This flower, the conventional symbol of Purity and Spiritual Birth, suggests the association between such images and the cult of the dead. The presence of the linga-yoni symbol in this image appears to be a unique feature in the art of the entire region of Southeast Asia. This could have been a local invention of Indonesia, possibly based on certain types of aiva images from India (see Huntington 1984: pl. 228). But added to the image of iva to underline his absolute nature as the Embodiment of the Male and Female elements and the Origin of all that exists.

See colour illustration