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4. Shiva Java 9th century Sandstone height 99 cm. |
Shiva, one of the three great Hindu divinities, is the powerful god of destruction and creation. The four-armed deity, here depicted as a teacher, stands on a double lotus pedestal that inclines slightly under the weight of the divine body. His ascetic nature is alluded to by the jar (kamandalu) containing holy water that rests by his feet; on his right his trident (trishula) rises from its own little lotus pedestal. His upper hands hold a ring of prayer beads and a flywhisk (camara); his lower left hand cradles a lotus bud; his lower right hand is raised in vitarkamudra, the gesture of teaching. Shiva is arrayed in a beautiful mukuta, the sacred thread (upavita), and a profusion of jewellery – a necklace, earrings, bracelets, anklets, and other adornments. Shiva’s face is that of a young man deep in serene contemplation. His head is framed by an unadorned halo. The statue would originally have fitted into a niche in one of the many small shrines that dot the volcanic hillsides above the Kedu plain, also known as the Dieng Plateau region, in Central Java. Stylistic comparisons may also be made with a number of statues from the Prambanan Temple in Central Java. A stylistically comparable though somewhat larger statue of a four-armed Brahma was acquired in 2000 by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (see Arts of Asia, Vol. 32, no 4, July-August 2002, p.40). The stylistic characteristics of the present Shiva and the use of hard volcanic stone are typical of the ninth-century Central Javanese style. Provenance: Collection of a British retired diplomat, stationed in Indonesia during the 1970s. Art Loss Register Certificate, Reference S00027775. K. With, Java. Brahmanische, Buddhistische und eigenlebige Architektur und Plastik auf Java, Hagen, 1920, p.99. A.J. Bernet Kempers, Ancient Indonesian Art, Amsterdam, 1959, p.157-158. Java und Bali, Buddhas-Götter-Helden-Dämonen, Verlag Philipp Von Zabern, Main am Rhein, 1980, no.87. S. Markel, In Pursuit of the Intangible: Recent Exceptional Acquisitions of Southern Asian and Himalayan Art in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Arts of Asia Vol.32, no.4, July-August 2002, p.40, no.26. |