Provenance:
Arnold H. Lieberman, New York
The Kronos Collections, acquired in 1995
Published:
Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Art Institute of Chicago exhibition catalogue, 2003, cat. no. 53
Exhibited:
“Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure,” Art Institute of Chicago, April 5–August 17, 2003; Smithsonian Institution, October 18, 2003–January 11, 2004
This brass relief represents the Hindu god Shiva, the facial features worn by the repeated use of ritual unguents. His face with full lips with the ends of a moustache projecting upwards from the corners of his mouth, petite nose, and delicate almond-shaped eyes beneath arched eyebrows. Shiva is wearing a double-stranded necklace with large circular jewels, two distinct ear ornaments in the form of a beaded ring and an antelope-skin respectively suspended in his pendulous earlobes, and simple crown with ribbed diadem decorated with trilobate foliate ornaments. His hair is arranged in rows of spiral ringlets on top of his head which cascade into tiers of sausage curls behind his ears.
Masks have a long, continuous history in India, beginning with terracotta examples excavated from Indus Valley cities (at their zenith circa 2600-1900 B.C.E). People in Rajasthan and Maharashtra continue to worship metal faces. Depictions of Shiva and Devi in the form of brass or silver mohras, however, are peculiar to the Himalayan regions. Extant masks from the post-Gupta period are extremely rare and were cast in the Chamba, Kulu, and Sutlej valley regions of Himachal Pradesh.
See M. Postel, A. Neven, and K. Mankodi, Antiquities of Himachal, 1985, 189 & fig 292; S. Kramrisch, Manifestations of Siva, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1980, p.102; H. Hartel, Museum for Indische Kunst, Berlin, Katalog, 1976, p. 182; and J. Guy, Indian Temple Sculpture, London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 2007, p. 146, pl. 164.
