A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF VASUDHARA

NEPAL, 12TH/13TH CENTURY

Footnotes

尼泊爾 十二/十三世紀 銅鎏金財源天母像

Vasudhara (''stream of gems'') is a beloved goddess of prosperity in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley. She is portrayed as a beautiful young girl. Her neck is adorned with a cluster of gemstones above her large, partially revealed breasts. The prominent central leaf of her tiara complements the shape of her armbands. Her attire is silky and diaphanous, her lower garment terminating with a pleated flourish between her ankles. Within a fluid array of six arms, her held attributes and symbolic gestures (mudras), namely the Prajnaparamita teaching, a sheaf of grain, a vase with the long-life elixir, a strand of wish-fulfilling jewels, charity, and reassurance, all combine to signify her ability to bestow holistic prosperity.

This Vasudhara's soft, sensuous physique, regalia, and high-copper casting are classic characteristics of the Nepalese aesthetic. A Vasudhara attributed to the 12th century in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.79.9.5) displays similar large encasings for her gemstones, as well as the sutra also arising from a lotus and being held very close to the goddess's head. The nuance to the present example's poise also suggests a 12th-/13th-century dating. By contrast, a 14th-/15th-century example of Vasudhara in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1983.547) provides a good foil for the present example's earlier attribution.

Provenance:
Richard Olson, USA
Private Swiss Collection, acquired in 1970s