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A VOLCANIC STONE RELIEF DEPICTING SHIVA MAHADEVA, CENTRAL JAVA, 9TH CENTURY
LOT 218 - FAS1024

Buy now for €21,450.00



Lot details

Indonesia. The andesite figure finely carved standing in samabhanga, the primary hands held to the center, one on top of the other, the secondary hands raised and holding a fly-whisk and prayer beads enclosing a flowerhead. Dressed in a diaphanous dhoti secured by a festooned belt, the deity is adorned with beaded and foliate jewelry as well as the sacred thread around which a naga coils at his left shoulder.

The face with a peaceful expression marked by downcast eyes and elegant brows centered by the third eye on his forehead, above full lips forming a calm smile, flanked by ornate earrings. The hair arranged in a jatamukuta centered by a skull and crescent, all backed by a nimbus.

Provenance: Collection of Paul J. Jewell, who lived and worked in South East Asia for over 20 years, serving as the executive director of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam. To this day, he continues to collect Asian art and antiquities.
Exhibited: Jonathan Tucker and Antonia Tozer, Asian Art in London, Fall 2018.
Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Natural imperfections, obvious losses, chips, nicks, scratches, encrustations, signs of weathering and erosion, water and rust stains.

Dimensions: Height 112 cm (excl. stand), 115 cm (incl. stand)

With an associated stand. (2)

Numerous Hindu and Mahayana Buddhist temple complexes were built in Java during the Shailendra Dynasty (c. 730-930), including the great “cosmic mountain” of Borobudur in the 9th century. The present lot shares close affinities with a statue of Shiva Mahadeva (see literature comparison) in Prambanan, a 9th-century Hindu temple compound in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, in southern Java, Indonesia, dedicated to the Trimurti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Preserver (Vishnu), and the Destroyer (Shiva). It was originally built in 850 during the reign of the Hindu Sanjaya dynasty. The temple compound, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia and the second largest in Southeast Asia after Angkor Wat. It is characterized by its tall and pointed architecture, typical of Hindu architecture, and by the towering 47-metre-high (154 ft) central building inside a large complex of individual temples. Prambanan temple compounds originally consisted of 240 temple structures, which represented the grandeur of ancient Java's Hindu art and architecture, and is also considered as a masterpiece of the classical period in Indonesia.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related andesite sculpture of Brahma, Central Java, 9th century, 116.2 cm high, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number M.2000.30. Compare a closely related figure of Shiva in the central chamber of the Lara Djonggrang complex, Prambanan, illustrated by A. J. Bernet Kempers, Ancient Indonesian Art, 1959, pl. 157-158.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 22 March 2011, lot 267
Price: USD 50,000 or approx. EUR 63,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A volcanic stone stele of Shiva, Indonesia, Java, 11th-12th century
Expert remark: Compare the related stone, modeling, and manner of carving, albeit of later date than the present lot and arguably less fine. Note the much smaller size (61.5 cm).

 

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