Lot 307
307
A BRONZE FIGURE OF A RAKSHASI
THE COLLECTION OF DOROTHY AND RICHARD SHERWOOD
A BRONZE FIGURE OF A RAKSHASI

INDONESIA, CENTRAL JAVA, 10TH-11TH CENTURY

Details
A BRONZE FIGURE OF A RAKSHASI
INDONESIA, CENTRAL JAVA, 10TH-11TH CENTURY
4 3/8 in. (11 cm.) high
Provenance
The Pan-Asian Collection (Christian Humann), by 1976.
Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, New York, by 1982.
The Pan-Asian Collection; Sotheby's New York, 5 October 1990, lot 102.
Literature
P. Pal, The Sensuous Immortals, A Selection of Sculptures from the Pan-Asian Collection, catalogue of the traveling exhibition, Los Angeles, 1977, p. 196, no. 119.
Exhibited
On Loan to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (L.76.24.13), by 1976.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, Kansas City, National Gallery, Ottawa, Toledo Museum of Art, "The Sensuous Immortals: A Selection of Sculptures from the Pan-Asian Collection" 25 October 1977-29 October 1978.

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Lot Essay

The iconography of the present figure, with bared fangs, bulging eyes, and unusual attire, make identification of the present figure difficult. In The Sensuous Immortals, Pal speculates that she perhaps represents a rakshasi, a semi-divine ogress belonging to the same class of demons as asuras. Less likely in his estimation is that she represents a dakini from the Buddhist pantheon.

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