A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SHIVA

JAVA, 8TH/9TH CENTURY

Footnotes

爪哇　八/九世紀　濕婆神銅像

Provenance:
Mark Gordon Collection, Singapore
Private Collection Singapore

Representing of Shiva Mahadeva - Shiva the Supreme God, he stands in the classic hierarchic pose with four arms that would have held a fly whisk, a conch shell, a holy water kendi-like vessel, and rosary. Shiva's supple body is bedecked with jewels and a tall coiled jatamakuta adorned with a crescent and sun symbol. Long strands of twisted hair fall down the image's back from beneath the headdress.

As with other examples from the earlier Central Javanese period (7th-10th centuries), the jeweled waistband (udarabandha) here appears closer to the navel than in examples from the later Eastern Javanese period (10th-16th centuries). This feature is one of the more prominent stylistic elements of the South Indian Pallava style (7th-9th centuries) to have influenced artists in Java and is emphatic of the cultural exchange between these two regions. This piece is also linked through similar modes of representation to Cham and Yunnan sculpture. For a detailed discussion, see John Guy, "The Avalokitesvara of Yunnan and Some South East Asian Connections", in Rosemary Scott & John Guy (ed.), South East Asia & China: Art Interaction & Commerce, Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia, London, 1995, pp.78-79 no.17.

The present piece compares favourably with related examples in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, formerly in the Samuel Eilenberg Collection, see Lerner and Kossak, The Lotus Transcendent, New York, pp.32-35, nos.130-39 and another in the Richard Bull Collection, see Bull, "The Metamorphosis of One Collector" Expedition Magazine, University of Pennsylvania, 1965, p.45.