A Mottled Red Sandstone Yakshi

INDIA, UTTAR PRADESH, MATHURA, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY

Details

A Mottled Red Sandstone Yakshi
India, Uttar Pradesh, Mathura, circa 2nd Century
3arved in high relief with a fertility goddess, her sensuous upper torso in tribhanga holding a bunch of lotus blossoms in her raised left hand, adorned with necklaces and earrings and carefully coiled hair
18 in. (45.5 cm.) high

Provenance

Dr. J.R. Belmont Collection, Basel, before 1966;
Pan-Asian Collection

Exhibited

Stuttgart, Wurtembergischer Kunstverein; Hamburg, Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Indische Kunst, 1966, cat. no. 45;
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Sensuous Immortals, 1977, cat. no. 4;
Amarillo, Amarillo Art Center, Divine Images and Magic Carpets: From the Asian Art Collection of Dr. and Mrs. William T. Price, 1987, pl. 70.

Lot Essay

This fragment likely formed part of a railing post. Unabashedly displaying her physical charms, she holds lotuses. Yakshis, generally regarded as nature or fertility goddesses, are usually associated with trees, while this particular yakshi is associated with water by her attributes.

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