G760.5 A RED SANDSTONE HEAD OF A MALE DEITY
NORTHERN INDIA, MATHURA AREA
GUPTA PERIOD
CIRCA 5TH CENTURY
H. 15 CMS, 6 INS
A serene red sandstone head of a male deity with an intense spiritual gaze, the face framed by elaborate corkscrew spirals of hair, with an elaborate central diadem and adorned with heavy earrings.
This wonderfully under-stated sculpture recalls the celebrated head of Shiva in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford – please see cat. no. 24 in in J. C. Harle and A. Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1987.
Provenance: Private English Collection.
Acquired during the family’s long service in India between 1946 and 1967.