Lot 59
59
A gilt bronze figure of Vasudhara <BR> NEPAL, KATHMANDU VALLEY, 1180-89 <BR>
A gilt bronze figure of Vasudhara
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A gilt bronze figure of Vasudhara

NEPAL, KATHMANDU VALLEY, 1180-89

Details
A gilt bronze figure of Vasudhara
Nepal, Kathmandu Valley, 1180-89
Seated on a double-lotus throne with one leg pendant, holding various implements in her six arms and wearing a dhoti with an incised pattern and various jewelry, a detailed inscription around the base
5½ in. (14 cm.) high
Provenance
The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago, acquired before 1996
Literature
Pratapaditya Pal, A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, 1997, p. 192 and 329, cat. no. 249
I. Alsop, "Five Dated Nepalese Sculptures," Artibus Asiae, 45, 2/3, 1984, pp. 207-21, illus.
Exhibited
On loan to Art Institute of Chicago since 1996

Lot Essay

Unifying scholarly wisdom and knowledge of nature's mysteries into a single, female form, the Goddess Vasudhara is particularly popular as a household deity throughout Nepal. Worshiped for fertility and prosperity, she bestows generosity with her lower right hand in varadamudra and holds in the remaining hands a rain of jewels, book, sheaf of grain, and water pot.

The inscription on the base has been translated and published by Ian Alsop: "On the seventh day of the bright half of Magha, in the year 28[7?], [this image of] Sri Vasudharani was consecrated. May the donor Jasapala Candra obtain the unsurpassed reward. May it be good."

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