A FINE BUFF SANDSTONE STELE DEPCITING GANAPATI

Description:

Central India, Chandella dynasty, 11th/12th cent.
H. ca. 55 / 65 cm
Finely sculpted in dancing posture with both legs bent, his six arms radiating around his body, the hands holding the specific attributes and gestures, pot-bellied, wearing skirt, bejewelled, his head with curling trunk reaching for the bowl with sweets, protruding eyes, his head topped with a lotus flower decorated with swaying tassels and the upper register of the throne back-slab carved with a pair of gandharvas holding each a floral garland
From an old Bavarian private collection
The present sculpture of the god Ganapati (Ganesha) dates from the Chandella dynasty (ca. 950-1250 AD) and was probably made in the Bundelkhand region (central India, present-day Madhya Pradesh). As the main bearer of Middle Indian temple art, the Chandella-Königtum is characterised in particular by the building and sculptural achievements in Khajuraho, which mark a high point of classical North Indian sculpture. The work shows the elephant-headed god in a multifaceted, sculpturally elaborate composition, executed in the fine-grained reddish-yellow sandstone that is characteristic of Khajuraho sculptures. Ganapati is depicted in typical iconography as a round, cheerful god, often dancing or in a relaxed pose, accompanied by smaller secondary figures (attendants or musicians). This iconographic diversity refers to his function as Vighneśvara, the "overcomer of obstacles", as well as the god of scholarship and good beginnings - Damages due to age