A RARE NEPALESE GILT-COPPER FIGURE OF INDRA

A RARE NEPALESE GILT-COPPER FIGURE OF INDRA
14TH CENTURY

Seated in maharajalilasana with his right hand raised in vitarka mudra and supporting himself on his left hand, placed on the ground behind him and holding a vajra, his face with downcast eyes and a serene expression, with a delicately incised third eye to his forehead. He wears a diaphanous dhoti with a beaded hem and is adorned with necklaces, bracelets and an open scrollwork tiara all inlaid with hardstones, together with a slate stand, 3.5kg, 27.5cm. (2)

Provenance: formerly the collection of John David Adam Stainton (1921-1991); gifted to the 6^th Marquess and Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, and thence by descent.

Indra holds significant religious importance for both Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal, reflecting the syncretic nature of religious traditions in the region. Associated with war and thunder, Indra is revered as the lord of the gods and referred to by a number of epithets, especially Sahasraksha, ‘The Thousand Eyed’. This feature is symbolically represented in the form of a third eye centering Indra’s forehead, a typical element of the god’s iconography as seen in the work offered here. A number of other iconographic elements in this piece are unique to Nepalese depictions of Indra. His posture, seated in elegant maharajalilasana or ‘Royal Ease’, and his crown of a tall mitre-shaped type are both specific to this region’s artistic production, as is the distinctive use of hardstones, which is typical of metalwork from the Kathmandu Valley. Together these elements mark this depiction of Indra as one of the most recognisable and celebrated works of Nepalese art. Compare with a related example in the Norton Simon Museum, in P. Pal, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, vol.2, pp.84-85, no.52 and another smaller example from the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, in P. Pal, Art of Nepal, p.119, no.S42. See also, P. Pal, The Sensuous Immortals: A Selection of Sculptures from the Pan-Asian Collection, p.174, fig.102 for another comparable example, sold at Christie's New York, 17 March 2015, lot 11.

This Nepalese 14^th-century gilt copper figure of Indra was gifted to the 6^th Marquess and Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair by John David Adam Stainton (1921-1991), best known as a formidable British field botanist and Himalayan plant collector. During his botanical explorations Stainton travelled Nepal extensively, initially in the 1950s with the British Museum’s botany department and subsequently on private expeditions, resulting in an important corpus of publications including Forests of Nepal (1972) and Flowers of the Himalaya (1984). Stainton also left a significant body of field notes rich in ethnographic observations, now held in the National History Museum, London, displaying his cultural knowledge of the region.

十四世紀 尼泊爾銅鎏金因陀羅坐像
來源：John Adam Stainton（1921-1911）舊藏，贈予Aberdeen and Hindus六世伯爵及伯爵夫人為禮物，之後由其後人繼承。