Antik Kupferne anthropomorphe Figur, Höhe 22,0 cm, Breite 26,0 cm, Indien, Gangesebene, 2. Jahrtausend v. - 22 cm

A COPPER ANTHROPOMORPHIC FIGURE INDIA, GANGETIC PLAINS, 2ND MILLENIUM BC

Uttar Pradesh, India

CULTURE
Gangetic Plains, Uttar Pradesh, India.

PERIOD
2nd Millennium BC.

MEASUREMENTS
Circa 22,0 cm height.
Circa 26,0 cm width.
Circa 0,5 cm depth.

WEIGHT
Circa 1,06 Kg.

MATERIAL
Copper.

CONDITION
Intact with green to deep brown hard patina deposits.

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Europe, acquired prior to 1960; thence by descent.
Private Collection Germany, formed in the 1970's.
Private Collection of L. K. London, UK, acquired in Germany in the 1970`s top 2010.
Acquired on the London art market 2023.

DESCRIPTION
Copper Anthropomorphic Figure, H. 22,0 cm, W. 26,0 cm, India, Gangetic Plains, 2nd Millennium BC. A large flat-section figure with curled arms, spread legs, lobed head; mounted on a custom-made stand.

This enigmatic object, depicting a stylized version of a man with curved outstretched arms, represents one of the earliest known bronze ritual objects from India. It is a highly dynamic and evocative work of art. Cast of pure copper, a relatively soft metal, it was clearly made for dedicatory use. Several hoards of these figures have been found across North India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, where they were ritually deposited in rivers or marshes.

In the region of Uttar Pradesh in the Indo- Gangetic plains, a cluster of copper artifacts was found that can be dated between 1500 and 1000 BC. Among them, a number of anthropomorphic figures follow a distinctive shape with curved downward arms, dome-shaped heads, and spread legs. The pieces that belong to the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in NY (inv. 2001.433.5, 2001.433.7, 2001.433.10) follow more or less the same canon. The findspots suggest these figures were ritually deposited in rivers or marshes.

The scholar P. H. Agravala has argued in Early Indian Bronzes, Varanasi, 1977, p. 37 for a possible ritualistic use of these forms as religious symbols, prototypes of the sri-vatsa symbol, a mark on the chest of Vishnu, which represents a lock of the hair of his consort Lakshmi. Tapan Kumar in Das Gupta, Der Vajra eine vedische Wolffe, Weisbaden, 1975, has speculated that the figure is a precursor of the vajra symbol.

A closely related example, formerly in the collection of Samuel Eilenberg, is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession no. 2001.433.5). See also another closely related example sold at Christie’s New York, 20th March 2019, lot 651.


IMPORTANT INFORMATION
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