South India, 17^th-18^th century or slightly later. Well cast standing in tribangha on a circular lotus pedestal raised on a stepped square base, each neatly incised with petal designs, the goddess' graceful figure is pinched at the waist and adorned with elaborate beaded jewelry. Her left arm lingers in lola hasta mudra while the right is raised in kataka mudra, holding a lotus seed between two of her delicate fingers. She is clad in a close-fitting dhoti finely cast with raised pleats and secured with a festooned belt. Her serene face is detailed with deeply incised eyes, elegantly arched brows, and a beguiling smile, the head crowned by a karanda mukata of piled rings diminishing in size and culminating in a lotus bud, backed by a large foliate shirashchakra.

Provenance: Property from the collection of Drs. Edmund and Julie Lewis, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Drs. Edmund Jean and Julia Breyer Lewis are renowned experts in nephrology who met professionally and later married in 1997, and have since continued to collect art together, actively seeking the best they could find from the finest dealers in the field. Known for their keen scholarship and high aesthetic standards, for the past three decades Ed and Julie have focused on collecting lacquer art, painting, and Buddhist sculpture from Japan. As they traveled widely their desire to collect Buddhist art grew, and they have expanded their collection to include important Pan-religious sculpture from Greater Asia.
Condition: Very good condition with expected old wear and casting irregularities. Minor nicks, losses, and occasional light scratches. The bronze with a fine, naturally grown patina and areas of malachite encrustation.

Weight: 2,538.2 g
Dimensions: Height 32 cm

As Lakshmi, Parvati, and Tara are all known to hold the lotus seed as an attribute, Devi (the Sanskrit word for goddess) is an encompassing term that refers to the goddess regardless of her many forms. Having had several names during her long published history, statues such as the present lot have most commonly been identified as Devi on the basis of the ambiguity of her lone attribute, the lotus seed or gem.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related bronze figure of Devi, with similar raised pleats to the dhoti, 39 cm high, dated to the 16^th century, in the Napier Museum, accession number 519.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s Paris, 11 June 2014, lot 376
Price: EUR 8,125 or approx. EUR 9,700 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A bronze figure of Devi, South India, Kerala region, 16th/17th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject, modeling, and manner of casting with similar pose, slender body, and openworked lotus base. Note the size (36 cm).