10/11C Pot-Bellied Vishnu Buff Sandstone Sculpture

PRESENTING a STUNNING piece of Southeast Asian Antiquity, namely, a 10/11C Pot-Bellied Vishnu Buff Sandstone Sculpture from Central India.

This piece has impeccable Provenance!

Sotheby’s operate a twice yearly auction of Southeast Asian Art & Antiquities in New York in the months of March and September.

It was purchased by a Private Dallas Collector at Sotheby’s New York Auction on 24th March 2004. Sale Number 7975, Lot No. 23.

The sculpture was described as: “Visnu Buff sandstone Central India. Vishnu in his pot-bellied, dwarf incarnation, wearing an elaborate beaded waistband, a sacred thread and necklace, the shrivatsa in relief on his chest, his head with tightly curled hair surrounded by a fragmentary lotus halo.

Height 14 in (35.6 cm)

10th/11th Century.

Property of a European Collector.”

It carried an Auction estimate of USD 5,000 to USD 7,000 and Sold for USD 6,000 (not including Buyers Premium).

Allowing for inflation alone this would be over $10,000 in today’s value.

As an added bonus and proof of authenticity the carving still retains it’s original Sotheby’s Lot No. Label (No. 23).

It has substantially increased in value over the years as a RARE piece from a prestigious Collection and a RARE piece of Asian antiquity.

Vishnu (/ˈvɪʃnuː/; Sanskrit pronunciation: [ʋɪʂɳʊ]; Sanskrit: विष्णु, IAST: Viṣṇu) is one of the principal deities of Hinduism, and the Supreme Being or absolute truth in its Vaishnavismtradition. Vishnu is the “preserver” in the Hindu triad (Trimurti) that includes Brahma and Shiva.

In Vaishnavism, Vishnu is identical to the formless metaphysical concept called Brahman, the supreme, the Svayam Bhagavan, who takes various avatars as “the preserver, protector” whenever the world is threatened with evil, chaos, and destructive forces. His avatars most notably include Rama in the Ramayana and Krishna in the Mahabharata. He is also known as Narayana, Trilokinath, Ishtadeva, Jagannath, Vasudeva, Vithoba, and Hari. He is one of the five equivalent deities worshipped in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta Tradition of Hinduism.

In Hindu iconography, Vishnu is usually depicted as having a pale or dark blue complexion and having four arms. He holds a padma (lotus flower) in his lower left hand, Kaumodaki gada(mace) in his lower right hand, Panchajanya shankha (conch) in his upper left hand and the Sudarshana Chakra (discus) in his upper right hand. A traditional depiction is Vishnu reclining on the coils of the serpent Shesha, accompanied by his consort Lakshmi, as he “dreams the universe into reality.

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu