A SANDSTONE STUPA VEDIKA CROSSBAR, SHUNGA PERIOD

A SANDSTONE STUPA VEDIKA CROSSBAR, SHUNGA PERIOD
Northern India, 1st century BCE. Of rectangular form with tapered edges on top and bottom, depicting a female figure within a round reserve, her head surmounted by a bouffant hairstyle with a turban, adorned with circular ear ornaments, a flat collar, strings of beads hanging between her breasts, her left arm decorated with bracelets, a weave-like design to the lower end of the reserve, issuing a narrow band of jasmine flowers.
Provenance
: From a notable collector in London, United Kingdom.
Condition
: Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, losses, signs of weathering and erosion, soil encrustations, few structural cracks.
Dimensions: Height 37 cm (excl. stand), 45 cm (incl. stand)
Mounted to a modern metal stand. (2)
Expert's note:
For a detailed commentary on the present lot, elaborating on the meaning of the stupa vedika and showing many further comparisons to examples in both public and private collections, please refer to the department to receive a
PDF copy of this academic dossier
, please refer to the department.
The present sculpture is a vedika (stupa railing) crossbar,
as indicated by the tapered edge made to fit into a vertical element. One side has greater surface deposit than the other, indicating that it faced outwards and was subjected to the elements.
The figurative images on vedikas
are generally royal or noble in appearance but their significance is not fully understood. In some cases, female figures may be regarded as queens, imitating the classical Roman tradition, or may be yakshis, or guardians of some sort, as they look directly forward.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related terracotta fragment of the Panchachuda goddess Yakshi, dated to the 1st century BCE, Bengal, in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, accession number EAX.201. Compare a related vedika element of a female figure, 1st century BCE, Bihar, illustrated in Ludwig Badhofer, Early Indian Sculpture, New York, 1929, pp. 39.
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