AN IMPORTANT TERRACOTTA BUST OF A FEMALE DEITY, ANCIENT REGION OF HUND

Scientific Analysis Report: A thermoluminescence analysis report issued by Oxford Authentication on 22 July 2025, based on sample number N125k10, sets the firing date of all three samples taken between 1100 and 1700 years ago, consistent with the dating above. A copy of the report accompanies this lot.

Pakistan, 5^th-7^th century. Finely modeled with her left hand lowered and the right raised, as if engaged in a conversation. The face downcast with almond-shaped eyes below neatly incised brows, flanked by pendulous earlobes suspending large beaded earrings, the loose curls of hair on the goddess’s head falling in ringlets over the shoulders, the hair adorned with a pearl diadem centered by an elaborate foliate crown, the neck with magnificent jewelry, one necklace made of linked beads and a second one of flower-head beads centered by a large blossom issuing tassels.

Provenance: The collection of Cindy Elden, New York, United States, acquired in London around 2000. Previously exhibited at TEFAF Maastricht, according to the present owner. Cindy Elden, philanthropist and collector, belongs to a lineage of distinguished art patrons that includes her great-uncles—David Archibald Smart (1892–1952) and Alfred Smart (1895–1951)—renowned Chicago publishers and art patrons whose legacy is commemorated in the naming of the Smart Museum of Art. Her father, Richard Elden (1933–2018), the visionary hedge-fund pioneer who founded Grosvenor Capital Management, upheld that legacy through decades of leadership as Governor of the Museum. As a current Board member of the Museum, Cindy Elden has supported acquisitions and exhibitions spanning antiquities to modern art, with a special emphasis on South and Central Asian sculpture. She is the President and Co-Founder of the Usher III Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to curing the rare genetic disorder that causes both hearing and vision loss.
Condition: Good condition overall, commensurate with age. With extensive wear, weathering, and erosion; some losses, nicks, scratches, and chips; cracks and old repairs with associated touchups; as well as expected firing flaws. All consistent with the considerable age and fragility of the sculpture.

Weight: 19.4 kg
Dimensions: Height 57 cm

The ringlets falling over the goddess’ shoulders recall images from Gupta India, see a figure of a devotee with a related hair dress, dated to the 5th century, in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Bombay, accession number TC 56. The Gupta style itself was inspired by Gandharan prototypes, where elaborate coiffures are associated with princely bodhisattva statues. The fan of curls at the crown of her head, as well as the profusion of locks falling down behind, perhaps indicates that a wig, rather than natural hair, formed such an elaborate coiffure.

The strongly incised facial features bear similarities to clay sculptures from Ushkur (see a related terracotta head of a man, dated to the 6th to 7th century, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number M.85.193.1). The same dramatic line of the eyebrows, running down to the bridge of the nose, the large expressive eyes and sublime smile indicates a distinct style of beauty.

Hund, known in antiquity as Udabhandapura, was a small village in the Swabi district, situated on the right bank of the Indus River in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It was the Turk Shahi dynasty’s capital of Gandhara, and possibly functioned as a winter capital alternating with the summer capital of Kabul within the kingdom of Kapisa-Gandhara in the 7th to 9th century. Old relics and remains of ancient civilizations have been found in the village after excavation work was undertaken by the government in the recent past. The history and past glory of the Hund has been preserved by the local government which constructed a museum and a replica of the tower of Olympia. The tower watches over the mighty Indus River, commemorating Alexander the Great’s crossing of the Indus while staying in Hund during his final military campaign for the Indian subcontinent.

Expert’s note: This goddess probably dates from the late 6th or 7th century, that point when Kashmir was beginning to develop the distinctive stylistic elements associated with the more familiar bronze statues made later on. Stylistic analysis of post-Gupta/post-Gandhara art in Kashmir is difficult. Hermann Goetz, writing over fifty years ago (Goetz, Bombay, 1952) observed an intermediate phase between the styles of late Gandhara and mature Kashmir. He noted, however, that there was no simple evolutionary path and probably many more influences at work than are necessarily understood. Compare the striking resemblance between the present lot and two small attendants flanking the throne of a magnificent bronze Buddha from Kashmir, dated c. 700, 33.7 cm high, in the Norton Simon Museum, accession number F.1972.48.2.S. One has to proceed tentatively when analyzing the sculptures from Hund, but it is not rash to suggest that they represent an important step in the process that Goetz identifies.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related terracotta figure of a deity seated in Rajalilasana, from the Buddhist monastery of Fondukistan in the Ghorband valley in the heart of Hindu Kush mountains, 72 cm high, dated ca. 6th century, in the Musée Guimet, accession number MG 18959. Compare a related larger statue of a female Devata from Hund, 110 cm high, dated 6th-7th century, in the Museum of Oriental Art in Turin.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s Paris, 12 June 2012, lot 304
Price: EUR 23,750 or approx. EUR 29,500 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A terracotta bust of a celestial female attendant, Pakistan, Hund region, circa 8th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject, shape of the body, facial features, jewelry, and hair. Note the similar size (63 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Zacke, Vienna, 11 October 2023, lot 232
Price: EUR 58,500 or approx. EUR 62,500 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large and highly important pottery figure of a male deity, ancient region of Hund, Pakistan, 7^th-8^th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject, shape of the body, facial features, jewelry, hair, and related crown. Note the much larger size (98.5 cm).