 BRONZE KETTLE DRUM Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 1.BRONZE KETTLE DRUM.NORTHERN VIETNAM.DONG SON CULTURE.3RD CENTURY BC – 1ST CENTURY AD.H. 65 CMS, 25 ½ INS.D. (AT SHOULDER) 86 CMS, 34 INS.D. (Tympanum) 78 CMS, 30 ¾ INS. A large and exceptionally rare bronze kettle-drum, cast by the lost-wax method, with a deep green patina, the shoulder and main body with a series of vertical and horizontal bands of dash lines, saw-teeth and linked circles, decorated with fish, birds and scenes of feather men in boats and wielding spears and shields; the tympanum with similar geometric bands surrounding a twelve-point star and interspersed with multiple aquatic birds, round and flat roofed houses, pairs of standing figures pounding rice, platforms containing drummers beating time with sticks and parading musicians, the sides with two pairs of double ‘rope’ handles. This spectacular drum is a veritable tour de force of bronze casting. Among its many remarkable features is the presence of drummers beating kettle drums with long poles, an important clue to the function of these objects and to the method by which they were played. Dong Son drums, also known as Heger Type I drums, are mainly attributed to the Dong Son culture, centred on the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. They were produced from around 600 BC until the third century AD and have been found across a vast area of Southeast Asia from Vietnam and Southern China to eastern Indonesia. There has been much speculation as to whether the drums were made for religious ceremonies such as harvest rituals or burials, served to rally men for war, or if they had a more secular role. In folk lore they are known as ‘rain drums’ and played to summon rain or to placate storms.One of the most celebrated examples of Dong Son drums is named Hoàng Ha (after the village in which it was discovered) and closely resembles this example – see p. 121 in Ha Thuc Can, The Bronze Dong Son Drums, Singapore and Hong Kong, 1989. This drum is also illustrated as plate 11.20b in A. J. Bernet Kempers, The Kettledrums of Southeast Asia: A Bronze Age World and Its Aftermath, Rotterdam and Brookfield: A.A. Balkema, 1988 and on pp. 6-7 in Pham Huy Thong et al, Dong Son Drums in Vietnam, Social Science Publishing House, 1990.
|  SANDSTONE HANUMAN TORSO Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 11.SANDSTONE HANUMAN TORSO.CENTRAL INDIA.MADHYA PRADESH.10TH – 11TH CENTURY.H. 165 CMS, 65 INS.W. 145 CMS, 57 INS.A monumental reddish sandstone torso of Hanuman,the Monkey God, sculpted in a dynamic sideways aspectwith his right arm and left leg raised and his left hand ina delicate form of vitarka (teaching) mudra; resplendentin elaborate jewellery including basubands withKirtimukha (Face-of-Glory) motifs, necklaces, bracelets and rings, a ceremonial dagger at his belt, with theremains of his tail trailing diagonally across his back.Hanuman, devotee of Lord Rama (the 7th avatar ofVishnu) is the most celebrated character in the Indianepic, The Ramayana. His most famous feat was to leadan army of monkeys in support of Rama, to fight thedemon King Ravana.This remarkable sculpture has a tremendous sense ofrestrained energy. For a closely related, 145 cm imageof Hanuman in the Gwalior Archaeological Museum,Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, see scan no. 0013767 in theHuntington Archive of Buddhist and Related art: http://huntington.wmc.ohio state.edu/ public/index.cfm?fuseaction=show ThisDetail&ObjectID=14554The Archaeological Museum, Khajuraho, has a complete, highrelief figure of Varaha in similar pose - see pp 116-7 inGrace Morley, Indian Sculpture, New Delhi: Roli Books, 2005. A second figure of Varaha in the L.A. County Museum of Art wears a similar dagger - see cat. no. 44 in P. Pal, The Sensuous Immortals: A Selection of Sculptures from thePan-Asian Collection, L.A. County Museum of Art, 1977. A related image of Bhairava from the Heeramaneck collection has similar Kirtimukha basubands – see cat. no. 43 in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Boston: MFA, 1966.Note: This sculpture weighs 580 kg and is too heavy to display in our gallery. It can be viewed byarrangement in our storage facility.
|  SANDSTONE HEAD OF A FEMALE DEITY Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 36.SANDSTONE HEAD OF A FEMALE DEITY.NORTHERN PAKISTAN OR KASHMIR? POST-GANDHARA.CIRCA 6TH CENTURY.H. 15 CMS, 5 7/8 INS. A placid, smiling sandstone head of a female deity, with a full, rounded face and eyes wide open beneath deeply arched brows and a luxuriant, pleated diadem. In the period following the decline of Gandhara its artistic heritage survived, with adaptations, in the surrounding regions. As Hellenistic influence waned ornate headdresses, reflecting both late Sassanian and Chinese tastes, replaced the elaborate coiffures of Gandharan female images. At the same time, developments in Mahayana Buddhism introduced goddesses and female Bodhisattvas into the Buddhist realm.This delightful head, from a Scottish castle collection, is apparently from a stone frieze. The heavy looking diadem is filled with a hood formed of rich folds of cloth. The warmth of expression, along with the full cheeks and strongly defined eyebrows suggest Gupta influence whilst the finely detailed mouth and eyes recall 6th century terracottas found at Ushkur and Akhnur in southern Kashmir.
|  SCHIST FIGURE OF THE BODHISATTVA PADMAPANI Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 38.SCHIST FIGURE OF THE BODHISATTVA PADMAPANI.NORTHWEST PAKISTAN.GANDHARA.CIRCA 5TH CENTURY. H. 7.5 CMS, 3 INS.A finely detailed, polished brown schist figure of the Bodhisattva Padmapani, his left hand holding a long lotus-stem, wearing a bow-shaped diadem, a pleated ankle-length sanghati and elaborate jewellery.Whilst Gandharan Bodhisattva images are well known, the specifically identified Avalokitesvara did not emerge until around the 5th century, recognised by the lotus he holds and by the image of Amitabha Buddha in his headdress. Here, a princely diadem is worn, continuing the existing Gandharan tradition, indicating that this small image dates from the early development of Avalokitesvara’s iconography. Coming from a region associated with trade and travel, this piece would probably have been part of a portable shrine.For a larger figure of Padmapani from the Swat Valley with similar iconography, please see no. 7 in M. Ashraf Khan, Gandhara Sculptures in the Swat Museum. Saidu Sharif, 1993.
|  OFFERING VESSEL (HSUN OK) Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 40.OFFERING VESSEL (HSUN OK).BURMA, PAGAN AREA.19TH CENTURY.H. 65 CMS, 25 ½ INS.A fine, gilded and lacquered Hsun Ok (offering vessel) with fitted upper and lower sections surmounted by a tiered finial; decorated with intricate bands of multi-coloured inlaid glass.Hsun Ok are placed on either side of a statue in a Buddhist temple, allowing devotees to place their offerings inside, thus accruing personal merit through their donation which in turn benefits the monastic establishment. Lacquered and gilded Hsun Ok, decorated in distinctive regional styles are found throughout Burma, but this general form, with a lid finial resembling a Buddhist stupa, is found throughout the country. This example is decorated with thayo, a mixture of lacquer and ash, which is rolled into a putty that can be used to create raised thread patterns. Following gilding, it was given an additional ornament of coloured glass spangles, arranged to resemble jewels, in typically Burmese taste and often seen trimming the robes of Buddha images. For similar examples see nos. 1 and 91 in R. Isaacs and T.R. Blurton, Visions from the Golden Land: Burma and the Art of Lacquer, London: British Museum, 2000.
|  WALKING BUDDHA Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 41.WALKING BUDDHA.LAOS, LUANG PRABANG AREA.SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY.H. (INCLUDING BASE) 144.8 CMS, 57 INS.H. (BUDDHA ONLY) 108 CMS, 42 ½ INS.A gilded and black lacquered Buddha of slender form standing on an hourglass shaped base, the left hand raised in abhayamudra and the right pendant by his side, his face tranquil beneath a raised chignon ascending to a flame finial with lotus petals around its base.The fully in-the-round walking Buddha originated in Sukhothai, Central Thailand, in the 14th century, probably deriving from 12th century bas-reliefs at Pagan, Burma and in Sri Lanka. It is said to represent the Buddha Sakyamuni in the third week following his Enlightenment, when he walked back and forth planning his future, but another interpretation is that it represents his descent from the Tavatimsha Heaven, to which he had risen in order to preach to his mother. For a Sukothai prototype walking Buddha, see cat. no. 59 in H.W. Woodward, The Sacred Sculpture of Thailand: The Alexander B. Griswold Collection, Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery, 1997. For an example of a walking Buddha from Laos, see page 228 in S. Lopetcharat, Lao Buddha: The Image and Its History, Bangkok: Siam International Book Company, 2000.
|  SEATED BUDDHA Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 45.SEATED BUDDHA.LAOS, PROBABLY FROM UDOMXAI PROVINCE, NORTH OF LUANG PRABANG.SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY.H. (INCLUDING FINIAL). 47 CMS, 18 ½ INS .A highly unusual polychromed wood figure of the Buddha, seated in dhyanamudra on a raised lotus pedestal, the face meditative and serene beneath a raised chignon rising to an eight-sided lotiform usnisha; the facial details carefully delineated in black, red and flesh-coloured pigments, wearing a sanghati with simple pleats and a long, central sash falling to the waist.The careful manner in which this sculpture has been decorated, not unlike Sri Lankan Buddhas of the period, with multiple layers of paint, suggests that it might once have been a treasured image in a family shrine. Another image, offered as catalogue no. 15, was almost certainly created and decorated by the same hand. For a related example from Vientiane - albeit lacking its elaborate decoration - please see pages 243 (top left) in S. Lopetcharat, Lao Buddha: The Image and Its History, Bangkok: Siam International Book Company, 2000.
|  ELMWOOD SHRINE Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 47.CHINA, PROBABLY SHANXI PROVINCE.19TH CENTURY.H. 49 CMS, 19 ¼ INS.W. 48 CMS, 19 INS. D. 35 CMS, 13 ¾ INS.A lacquered Elmwood (yumu) shrine of rectangular proportion, the sides plain, the front comprising four openwork carved panels, the two central panels opening as doors on dowel hinges, all behind an open carved overhang.Shrines of all sizes were used throughout the Shanxi region, in temples and in the home. This delicately carved shrine would have been placed on an altar table in the house of a middle class family. Inside there would have been a small Buddha and other symbolic objects for worship. The wooden tassels decorating the overhang are typical of the Shanxi regional style. An exhibition entitled Friends of the House: Furniture from China’s towns and villages, organised by Nancy Berliner and held at the Peabody Essex Museum in 1996, brought provincial Chinese furniture to the attention of mainstream collectors for the first time.
|  PAINTED SANDSTONE GARUDA Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 51.PAINTED SANDSTONE GARUDA.INDIA, GUJURAT.16TH – 17TH CENTURY.H. (EXCLUDING BASE) 49.5 CMS, 19 ½ INS. A painted sandstone figure of Garuda, kneeling on top of a naga (snake deity) to await Vishnu’s bidding, his hands raised in the respectful gesture of namaskaramudra; the wooden base apparently cut from an old pillar.This image of Garuda may originally have been placed, along with other images, on the wall surrounding a shrine or temple dedicated to Vishnu. Over the centuries the half man, half bird vehicle of Vishnu has presented artists with both a problem and a source of inspiration. They have endeavoured to create a figure that combines the qualities of both, yet retains the ability to fly as he bears Vishnu on his back and wrestles with his profound enemy, the snake deities known as nagas. Here, the artist appears to have been influenced by European images of angels, brought to western India by the Portuguese in the 16th century. The figure is human in almost every respect with the simple addition of elegantly curved wings.
|  A GROUP OF STANDING BUDDHAS Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue nos. 17 TO 20.A GROUP OF STANDING BUDDHAS. LAOS, FROM THE VICINITY OF LUANG PRABANG.SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY.H. (L. TO R. INCLUDING FINIALS): 47 CMS, 18 ½ INS; 62 CMS; 24 ½ INS; 69 CMS, 27 INS; 51 CMS, 20 INS.A group of four gilded and lacquered wood figures of standing Buddhas, each on a raised pedestal, their raised usnishas topped by lotiform or flame finials, the eyes half-closed in meditation and the faces with serene expressions; both arms pendant by the sides in the ‘Calling for Rain’ posture. For more information on this type, please refer to the entry for catalogue nos. 4 to 8.
|
|
