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Lot 508
A BRONZE FIGURE OF BHU DEVI
Estimated Value:
6.000 € - 10.000 €
Result:
incl. Premium and VAT
Description:
South-India, early Vijayanagar period, ca. 14th/15th c,H. 35,8 cm
Standing in tribhanga on a lotus base with her right hand stretched along her body while the raised left one is holding the lotus flower, wearing horizontal pleated sari fastened with a girdle around her hips, lavishly bejewelled, breast band, her face displaying a serene expression with almond-shaped eyes below arched eyebrows that run into the nose-bridge, smiling lips, elongated earlobes with pierced ear plugs, her hairdo combed in a chignon set with a conical-shaped mukuta and ornamented with a cakra to the back.
Collection of Prof. Dr Hermann Schröder (1902-1991), Aachen, and expanded by his family
Bhu Devi, the Earth Goddess, is one of Vishnu's wives. After she was abducted by the demon Hiranyaksha, Vishnu took on the form of his boar avatar Varaha and plunged in to the depths of the ocean to save her. After lifting her above the waves on his tusks, Vishnu vanquished the demon with his chakra. In South Indian representations of Bhu Devi, she is often shown as part of a trinity with Vishnu in the center and Sri Devi on the other side. While Bhu Devi and Sri Devi's iconography are very similar, Bhu Devi can be distinguished by the breast-band, which Sri Devi lacks - Minor wear, , partly very slightly corroded
