Blackstone Vishnu from Pala Period

 


Black Stone Stele Depicting the Four-Armed Vishnu

Black Stone Stele Depicting the Four-Armed Vishnu, well carved in openwork standing on a double-lotus throne, his four hands holding the staff, chakra and conch shell, wearing a short dhoti secured with a festooned belt, a sash and sacred thread around the torso, multiple necklaces and other jewelry, the face with full lips, aquiline nose and downcast eyes beneath incised brows, the hair drawn into a high chignon and secured with a foliate crown, flanked by Lakshmi and Saraswati holding the flywhisk and vina respectively, over-arched by his avatars encircled by scrollwork on the throneback,  the arched mandorla centered by a kirttimukha mask and two apsaras


Height 67 cm

North-eastern India, Pala Period, 11th century.

P R O V E N A N C E :

From a German private collection, acquired in the early 1990’s in Switzerland

Via Becker Antiques

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