A COPPER ALLOY SHRINE TO CROWNED BUDDHA


NORTHEASTERN INDIA, KURKIHAR, CIRCA 11TH CENTURYThe reverse, with a single line dedicatory inscription, partially translated, 'A pious gift of "Da"[?]...'
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61939 3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm) high
|印度東北部 庫基哈爾 約十一世紀 寶冠佛陀銅像 Formerly of the collection of Samuel Eilenberg (1913-98), this gem of a miniature shrine to Crowned Buddha neatly frames him between two stupas and under the Bodhi tree and a parasol. The shrine is cast in the Kurkihar style, named after a hoard of nearly 150 sculptures preserved in the Patna Museum, which were excavated in 1930 in Kurkihar, Bihar. Among these excavated works, almost a hundred bear inscriptions dating them to the 10th to 12th century. From the hoard, a larger shrine of Crowned Buddha flanked by bodhisattvas similarly depicts the central figure under a parasol and canopy, with his right shoulder bare, and seated above a 'batwing' lotus pedestal (Huntington Archive #2053). A very close casting of Standing Crowned Buddha from the horde is attributed a c.11th century date (Huntington Archive #2317). Samuel Eilenberg was a Polish-born American mathematical genius and one of the most revered collectors of Indian and Southeast Asian art of the 20th century. Owing to his primary interest in algebraic typology, which involves the discovery of algebraic axioms, or rules, in objects and spatial relationships, the iconometry of India's religious art immediately drew his fascination during a trip to Bombay in the 1950s. In 1989, Eilenberg donated more than 400 South and Southeast Asian sculptures to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. He had a penchant for small, eccentric, and fairly unique sculptures like the present example. Provenance Collection of Samuel Eilenberg, New York (1913-98) Private New York Collection