Indian Bronze Statue

I've had this lovely since 2011. She came to me in an auction lot I purchased for the needlework pieces. I didn't even know she was there. Upon finding her, I knew nothing about her. Or Indian bronzes. Or bronzes.

I once posted her on the ebay forums and... *sound of crickets* ...

So I did a bunch of my own research... which I'm about to share. I'm hoping, seven years later and with a new audience, my research can be vetted (you know how it goes with book-learning). Tell me I'm way off, spot on, I don't care... just please, no more crickets. Here we go...

QUALITY: Wellll... I think she is better than current tourist trade that I've seen (on ebay, ya know). But I suspect tourist trade, nonetheless. Like maybe post-WWII tourist trade. A lot of her detail comes from cold-work. There are several spots (see pics) which appear to be mediocre repairs to casting defects.

PLACE OF ORIGIN: Southern India. I'm unsure of this, but it's her hairstyle and who I think she is that guides my guess. Because of her hairstyle, I ended up buying the first book that I saw included pics with similar hair, The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India -- it's a book I highly recommend for tons of good information, gorgeous pictures, and a love of the topic that will make you fall in love with it, too. Or maybe that's just me.

WHO SHE IS: I believe she is a "yakshi" -- a quick glance around the internet tells me there is way more info available than when I was originally researching her -- but a quick skim of that info hasn't my initial conclusions.

From the art institute of Chicago: "A yakshi is a female earth spirit, accepted as a symbol of fertility by the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain faiths. She is usually portrayed as a wide-hipped, voluptuous woman, who can cause a tree to bear fruit simply by touching it with her foot."

I believe she is Sundara Yakshi. And here's where it gets a bit vague... she's worshiped primarily in Kerala -- there's still one temple to her there -- and if you look at all the art of her available online, almost all of it is in the style of Kerala murals. And that's about all I know on the "Sundara" part.

Feel free to tell me what I got right and what I got wrong. And anything else you might know.

 

Knowing nothing about any of this, will note, drawing on experience with cameo depictions of Venus, that she appears to be primping, looking at herself in a mirror. Does that give a clue to her identity, @Any Jewelry ?

 

@Bronwen, I believe her mirror and hand position is meant to depict the application of sindoor, but I'm not 100% (since that falls in the realm of married women and... well, I just don't know). It is a typical pose for Sandura Yakshi in art.

 

An Indian Barbie Doll!

 

Well, I was right; it just doesn't change the ID, helps confirm it. Looks like she's applying a bindi?

 

...and hasn't put her shirt on yet.(LOL) In some art, Indian ladies are shown wearing a ton of jewelry and nothing else. No wonder guys like it! (they're not paying for the jewelry)

 

blech, @Bronwen , I shouldn't have posted as I was running out the door. What I would have said if I had taken the time post a proper response is, "Not only were you 100% right, that is exactly how I initially identified her."

After I was headed down the "I think she's a yakshi" trail, I started searching on "yakshi makeup", "yakshi with mirror", etc etc. I found the exact piece of art that I posted above and my heart skipped a beat. It was one of two likenesses that I found online. The other was a brand new brass/bronze piece with the title "woman applying sindoor" -- but her hand position was much higher (toward the hairline), so maybe she was applying sindoor, but this piece is applying a bindi. I don't know enough to know.

There are several more images labeled Sundara Yakshi online now and I can see my bronze in all of them... but I am in that position of having a goodly amount of research under my belt -- with very little real world experience of Indian bronzes.

 

Oh yes, lots of nudity! In my research I found that for some people (particularly in the south), bathing and dressing the bronzes is a ritual component of worship.

 

I bet it is.(LOL)

 

No, no, no -- I didn't mean to be salacious, it's a religious ceremony. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puja_(Hinduism)

 

Realize I may have come off as a bit miffed, but wasn't at all. I spend my days immersed in images of figures from the myths & tales of the West, interesting to see how to interpret some of those from the East.

I seem to recall Any Jewelry taking me to task for making too much of a parallel between Venus & another figure, perhaps from Bali (?) in another thread. When she weighs in, she will tell you all about this one.

 

@Bronwen

 

You're right, she is lovely. And you've done a lot of research, the right course of action after the reactions on ebay.
I would date her ca 1970.
I don't know if you can narrow her down to a type of Yakshi, or should look at a more general term, like Apsara, heavenly nymph.

Lovely ladies with mirrors abound in Hinduism. The mirror simply means the divinity or Apsara embodies beauty. When divine, the name Lalita is added to the name, like Devi Lalita, the Mother Goddess or female principle in her aspect representing beauty. Sometimes she is just called Lalita.
Apsaras with mirrors are usually dancing. To complicate matters in the usual Hindu fashion, Goddesses can be shown as dancers as well. Even Mohini, Vishnu in his disguise/illusion as a beautiful girl, can dance with a mirror.

Although I am by no means an expert on regional styles of Indian bronzes, I don't see a southern India link here. And as you've seen, Chola dynasty bronzes are always very graceful and dignified. This girl has way too much fun to be dignified.
I would think there is a stylistic link to the northern half of India. The hairstyle is seen on Bengali and Odisha Apsara's, etc as well, and the shape of the eyes is a simplified form of what you see on this 12th century Uttar Pradesh Apsara.

Sindoor and bindi are the same in different languages, but I think you mean the pre-made lacquer bindis, with a raised design. I don't think she is applying a bindi. I think she is dancing, just like so many of the girls with mirrors.
This recent one, based on a 10th century statue from Madhya Pradesh, in the north, is called a Nayika, which simply means the heroine of a story:


Two beauties with mirrors on pinterest, no origin mentioned:


This one seems to be a divinity, judging from the size of her companion:

 

Well, not all, my contribution is mainly beautifying the forum with some photos of lovely ladies.

 

Maybe not, but waaay more than the rest of us could supply.

 

@Any Jewelry I was so hoping you would respond and I'm absolutely delighted to read your assessment.

It's not the first time I've tried to pin something down to a degree that is not justified by the available information.

The "sindoor" I had in my original research notes was the red powder married women place along the part in their hair. I didn't list my source, but probably from the vaunted wikipedia.

Not that that matters. I much prefer the idea that her hand is in the air because she is dancing. I, too, spent a chunk of the 1970s with my hand in the air dancing.

Thank you, thank you!

 

So did I.