AN IMPORTANT SILVER-INLAID GOLD REPOUSSÉ BOWL DEPICTING GARUDA, VIETNAM, FORMER KINGDOMS OF CHAMPA, CIRCA 10TH CENTURY
Superbly worked, the deep rounded sides supported on a tall faceted foot and flaring to a beaded rim, finely decorated to the exterior with overlapping trefoil-arched panels enclosing rosettes and scrolling foliage, below interlocking scrolling vines. The foot with square panels and indented corners enclosing rosettes, all against ring-punched grounds. The interior with a circular silver-inlaid base depicting a winged Garuda with human face, wearing a richly incised dhoti, foliate crown, and fine jewelry, his arms raised as if about to take flight, surrounded by leafy lotus blossoms, enclosed by a beaded border.


Provenance:
Ex-Collection of The Zelnik István Southeast Asian Gold Museum. Institutional art collection in Belgium, acquired from the above. Dr. István Zelnik, President of the Hungarian South and Southeast Asian Research Institute, is a former high-ranking Hungarian diplomat who spent several decades in Southeast Asia, building the largest known private collection of Asian art in Europe.

Condition:
Good condition, commensurate with age, with old wear and casting flaws, small losses, some tarnishing, and dents, all exactly as expected of a gold object more than a thousand years old.

Weight: 243.9 g
Dimensions: Diameter 18.8 cm


Garuda is a half-bird, half-human creature
that appears in both Hinduism and Buddhism. The mythological account of Garuda’s birth in the Mahabharata identifies him as the younger brother of Aruna, the charioteer of the sun god, Surya. Garuda’s mother, Vinata, mother of the birds, was tricked into becoming the slave of her sister and co-wife, Kadru, mother of the nagas (serpents). The lasting enmity between the birds, particularly Garuda, and the serpents is attributed to this. The nagas agreed to release Vinata if Garuda could obtain for them a drink of the elixir of immortality, the amrita or soma. Garuda performed the feat, thus giving the snakes the ability to slough off their old skins, and on his return Garuda met Vishnu, agreeing to serve him as his vehicle. Garuda is described in one text as emerald in color, with the beak of a hawk, roundish eyes, golden wings, and four arms and with a breast, knees, and legs like those of a hawk. He is also depicted anthropomorphically, with wings and hawk-like features. Sometimes images of Garuda are used by devotees of Vishnu to designate their affiliations; such images appear on coins throughout various periods and on jewelry and ritual vessels, like this lot. Garuda, also known as Garula, are golden-winged birds in Buddhist religious texts. Under the Buddhist concept of samsara, they are one of the Aṣṭagatyaḥ, the eight classes of inhuman beings.


Expert’s note:

Depictions of Garuda with a human face like on the present lot
are considerably rarer
than their bird-faced counterparts, but are found across different cultures and materials. Compare an ivory relief depicting Garuda from Nepal, 10 cm high, dated to the 14th century, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number IS.124-1999. Compare a bronze plaque depicting Garuda from East Java, 12.7 cm high, dated c. 1300, in the Norton Simon Museum, accession number P.2003.01.10. Compare a terracotta sculpture of Garuda from Western Thailand, 48 cm high, dated to the first half of the 7th century, excavated from site 40, Khu Bua, Ratchaburi Province, by the Fine Arts Department, Thailand, in 1962, and now in the National Museum, Bangkok, exhibited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century, 14 April-27 July 2014. Compare a granite figure of Garuda from India, Tamil Nadu, 137.8 cm high, dated second half of the 8th to early 9th century, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1983.518. Compare a gray schist turban ornament with Garuda from Gandhara, 11.4 cm high, dated 2nd-3rd century, at Christie’s New York, 18 March 2015, lot 4009.