A BLACK STONE STELE OF PADMAPANI, PALA PERIOD, NORTHEASTERN INDIA, 10TH-12TH CENTURY
Seated in lalitasana on a double lotus throne with a pendent leg resting on a separate padma, his primary right hand lowered in varada mudra and his primary left resting on the base holding a lotus coming to full bloom at his shoulder. His secondary hands holding a mala (rosary) and an amrita vase. He is wearing a sheer dhoti tied at the waist and his body is richly adorned with beaded jewelry and upavita (sacred thread). His serene face with almond-shaped eyes below gently arched eyebrows centered by a drop-shaped urna, above his full lips forming a calm smile, flanked by long pendulous earlobes.


Provenance:
Collection of Giovanni Paltenghi, Italy, by the early 1990s. Leonardo Vigorelli, Bergamo, Italy, acquired from the above. Leonardo Vigorelli is a retired Italian art dealer and noted collector, specializing in African and ancient Hindu-Buddhist art. After studying anthropology and decades of travel as well as extensive field research in India, the Himalayan region, Southeast Asia, and Africa, he founded the Dalton Somaré art gallery in Milan, Italy, which today is run by his two sons.

Condition:
Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Ancient wear from within the culture, signs of weathering and erosion, minor losses, small nicks, light scratches, and minute encrustations. The stone with a fine, naturally grown, smooth patina overall.

Weight: 50.8 kg
Dimensions: Height 56 cm

His tall jatamukata is secured by a studded diadem centered with a diminutive image of the Buddha Amitabha, backed by a flaming mandorla and flanked by two flying apsaras carrying lotus garlands. The base is carved with a worshiper kneeling at an altar.


Avalokiteshvara
(The Allseeing Lord), known variously as Lokeshvara (Lord of the World), Lokanatha (Savior of the World), and Padmapani (The Lotus-bearer), is the pre-eminent bodhisattva of Mahayana Buddhism, which developed in India during the early centuries of the Common Era, and has remained an inspiration to its followers to this day. As a result, he has a wide variety of iconographic forms in both India and all other countries of Asia where his cult spread, as is clear from the surviving archaeological and literary evidence. He was especially venerated in the region of present-day Bihar, West Bengal, and Bangladesh in the Indian subcontinent between the 8th and 12th centuries.


The present sculpture
is carved from the familiar black stone that occurs in the region of both Bihar and old Bengal (now West Bengal in India and Bangladesh). The material is identified in literature generically as schist but is also known as phylite. The hardness of the stone allows it to be carved confidently into rich surfaces with both exuberant designs and fine details, as becomes abundantly evident in the present work.


Literature comparison:

Compare a related stele with a seated Avalokiteshvara, 50.2 cm high, dated 11th-12th century, in the Brooklyn Museum, accession number 1994.199.4.


Auction result comparison:

Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 18 September 2013, lot 233
Price: USD 111,750 or approx.
EUR 123,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A black stone stele of Padmapani, Northeastern India, Pala period, 10th century
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling and iconography.
Note the much smaller size (28 cm).
Compare the related modeling and iconography.
Note the much smaller size (28 cm).
Compare the related modeling and iconography.
Note the much smaller size (28 cm).
ompare the closely related modeling with the primary hands in the same poses, his secondary right also holding a mala, also seated in lalitasana with a pendent foot resting on a lotus, and further with similar expression, beaded jewelry, and jatamukata fronted by an image of Amitabha. Note the arched back carved with the Buddhist creed. Note the slightly smaller size (46.3 cm).


Auction result comparison:

Type: Related
Auction: Bonhams New York, 16 March 2015, lot 58
Price: USD 68,750 or approx.
EUR 81,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A black stone stele of Avalokiteshvara Shadakshari, Bihar, Pala period, 11th/12th century
Expert remark: Compare the related stone and manner of carving. Note the smaller size (30.5 cm).


Auction result comparison:

Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s Paris, 6 July 2022, lot 235
Price: EUR 47,880 or approx.
EUR 50,500
adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A black stone stele of Avalokiteshvara Northern India, Pala period, 11th century
Expert remark: Compare the related stone and manner of carving. Note the size (51 cm).