A RARE AND LARGE SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FIGURE OF VAIKUNTHA VISHNU, KASHMIR, 9TH-10TH CENTURY
Lot 209 - FAS1025

Manifesting in the form of a four-headed god, with a peaceful human face in the front, a lion and a boar's face on the two sides, and a ferocious face at the back. Here the lion and boar are vividly depicted with their mouths agape, representing Vishnu's Varaha and Narasimha avatars.

The deity stands with his left foot slightly in front of his right, holds a lotus flower and a conch shell in his upper hands, and rests his lower hands on the heads of two diminutive figures – Gadadevi, the female personification of his battle mace, and Chakrapurusha, the male personification of his war discus. Enlivening the composition, a tiny effigy of the Earth goddess Prithvi emerges from the base between Vishnu's feet.

Provenance: Stefan Freiherr v. Reibnitz, Munich, Germany, 1988. An old private collection in Bavaria, Germany, acquired from the above. A copy of the original invoice from Stefan Freiherr v. Reibnitz, dated 27 February 1988, accompanies this lot.
Condition: Good condition with wear, commensurate with age. Expected casting irregularities, obvious losses, scattered nicks and scratches, small dings, warping, and signs of weathering and erosion.

Weight: 9,188 g
Dimensions: Height 37.5 cm

Vaikuntha Vishnu was the paramount cult icon in the kingdom of Kashmir between the 8^th and 10^th centuries. Numerous sculptures of the same subject, both in metal and stone, have survived from the period. This complex form of Vishnu, first referred to by the name Vaikuntha in the seventh-century Vishnudharmottarapurana, is four-faced (chaturmurti), with the heads of a lion (right) and a boar (left) flanking a human face in the front and a fierce head in the back. He is also identifiable in this form by the epithet Para-Vasudeva, the ‘highest god’. The lion and boar represent Vishnu’s Varaha and Narasimha avatars. The fierce head on the back is a demonic, grimacing representation of Kapila, an immortal spirit who emerged from the Vedic ritual fire. These four heads correspond with Vasudeva (human), Samkarsana (Narasimha), Pradyumna (Kapila) and Aniruddha (Varaha), symbolizing respectively, bala (strength), jnana (knowledge), aisvarya (sovereignty), and sakti (energy).

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related smaller Kashmir bronze figure depicting the same subject, featuring similarly large eye inlays, 17.2 cm high, dated to 9^th-10^th century, in the National Museum, New Delhi. Compare a related Kashmir brass figure with silver and copper inlays depicting the same subject, dated c. 850, 46.4 cm high, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number M.80.6.2. Compare a related copper alloy figure depicting the same subject, dated 8^th-9^th century, 34.3 cm high, formerly in the collection of John D. Rockefeller and now in the Asia Society, New York, accession number 1979.43. All examples share the same composition and figural type with the present lot. All four gods are afforded a youthful body, with cruciform navel and slightly exaggerated musculature around the abdomen. They also wear similar crowns, necklaces, and armbands, as well as a long and prominent flower garland looping in front of their legs.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 22 March 2018, lot 1028
Estimate: USD 90,000 or approx. EUR 101,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A bronze figural group inlaid with copper and silver depicting Vishnu and attendants, India, Greater Kashmir region, 11^th-12^th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of casting, and subject, with similar inlays. Note the much smaller size (19.8 cm) and later dating.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams New York, 22 March 2022, lot 317
Price: USD 60,312.5 or approx. EUR 58,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A brass figure of Vaikuntha Vishnu, Kashmir, 8^th-9^th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of casting, and subject. Note the much smaller size (19 cm).