BUSTE EN GRÈS D'UN ASCETIQUEINDE CENTRALE, VERS XIE SIECLE27 cm (10 5/8 in.) highProvenance: A SANDSTONE BUST OF AN ASCETICCENTRAL INDIA, CIRCA 11TH CENTURY印度中部 約十一世紀 砂岩苦行者半身像Provenance:With Claude de Marteau by the 1970sSignifying his devotion to austere practices, this ascetic sports a long elliptical beard and tri-lobbed dreadlocks. As discussed by Dr. Pal on a closely related seated image of an ascetic deity in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 'It is possible that the four-armed figure is a divinized guru—a teacher of religious knowledge; alternatively, he may be Agni, god of fire, who is instrumental in transmitting ritual offerings to the gods.' (Pal,Desire and Devotion, 2002, p. 68, no. 14).