5179

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    Cast Bronze Durga slaying Mahishasura

    South India
    18th century

    height: 11.5cm, width: 8.2cm, depth: 5.6cm

    Sold

    Provenance

    UK art market

    – scroll down to see further images –

    This dynamic rendering of an eight-armed Durga shows the goddess slaying the buffalo-demon Mahishasura.

    The moment of decapitation is captured in this bronze.  Durga’s right foot is on the buffalo demon’s back. A sword is in one arm and another pulls the demons by its hair from the severed neck of the buffalo. She holds attributes in her other hands. They include a sword, a bow, a noose and a conch shell. Durga’s cloak flies out from behind her to underscore the action.

    The well-cast head of the buffalo rests to Durga’s left.

    Durga’s lion mount stands on her right with its tongue hanging out no doubt hopeful of a feast of entrails.

    The group stands on and about an oval platform engraved with lotus petals around its side.

    The bronze has a rich, chocolate patina. It is cast in one piece in a particularly dynamic and three-dimensional way.

    References

    Mitchell, A.G., Hindu Gods and Goddesses, UBSPD, 1982.

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