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G760.1 WOOD PANEL FROM A RITUAL CHARIOT DEPICTING SHIVA AND GANESHA
SOUTHERN INDIA, TAMIL NADU
18TH CENTURY
DIMENSIONS: 56 CMS X 42 CMS; 22 INS X 16 ½ INS.
A dynamic carved wood panel depicting a four-armed Shiva, seated in lalitasana (the posture of Royal Ease), with Ganesha seated at his feet and a fan-bearing attendant to his left.
This panel probably comes from a temple chariot used to convey sacred Hindu images during a procession.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has two extremely similar panels- see pp. 172 – 173, figs. 61 and 62 in Joseph M. Dye III; The Arts of India: The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 2001. The second has a fan-bearer in similar pose.
For a further chariot panel depicting Shiva Nataraja, see cat. no. 34 in George Michell (ed.), Living Wood: Sculptural Traditions of Southern India. Bombay: MARG Publication, 1992.
Provenance: Private English Collection.
Acquired during the family’s long service in India between 1946 and 1967.