A MONUMENTAL SANDSTONE STELE OF SURYA, MEDIEVAL PERIOD Description Northern India, Uttar Pradesh, medieval period, 11th-12th century. Identified by his characteristic boots, breast plate, and tall cylindrical crown, while wielding a beaming lotus in each hand, the stele is devoted to the Sun God Surya, whose cult at one time rivaled that of Shiva and Vishnu, and who became prominently incorporated into the iconographic program of the latter's temples. Provenance From an old French private collection. Hôtel Drouot, S.C.P. Maurice RHEIMS et René LAURIN, expert Michel BEURDELEY, Art de la Chine et d’ Orient, 2nd and 3rd March 1972, lot 76, illustrated on the back cover of the auction catalog. A noted French collector, acquired from the above and thence by descent within the family. According to a letter by Amina OKADA, Conservateur au Musée National des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet, dated January 22nd 1995, the present statue dates from the 11th-12th century. A copy of this letter is accompanying the lot. Copies of the front and back cover, the latter with the present statue on it, of the auction catalog “Art de la Chine et d’ Orient”, 2nd and 3rd March 1972, are also accompanying this lot. Condition Extensive weathering, wear, some losses and structural cracks, traces of erosion, minor old fills and repairs. The proper left upper corner section broken off and re-attached. Condition overall commensurate with age and as expected for an ancient statue of this colossal size. Weight: ca. 225 kilograms Dimensions: Height 150 cm, width 51 cm, depth 22 cm The Brahmanic god Surya is dressed according to traditional conventions that depict him as a king. His 'northern' garb is thought to resemble that of Indo-Scythian tribesmen, like the Kushans, who ruled Northern India in the first centuries of the common era. It is also thought to reflect the influence of Iranian religious ideas on Indian sun worship. (Rosenfield, The Arts of India and Nepal, Boston, 1966, page 43) The monolithic stele depicts a full entourage accompanying the solar deity, with his wife, Ushas (the Dawn) standing immediately before him as the herald of each new day. On either side of his feet are Surya's clerk and measurer, Pingala and Danda, standing with complementary tribhangha poses. Immediately flanking them are a pair of anthropomorphized horses, offering gestures of reassurance: possibly ayudha-purushas of his chariot's steeds. Above Surya are Usha and Pratyusha, two archers defending dawn and dusk from the darkness. Surya's bold lotus blossoms and crisp halo, as Dye once deftly noted, "suggest both the sun itself and the boundless life it nurtures" (Dye III, The Arts of India, Richmond, 2001, page 136). The softly modeled facial features of Surya with lightly arching brows and narrow prominent lips, harkening back to Gupta prototypes, point to the regional style of Uttar Pradesh in Northern India. So too does the buff-to-reddish colored sandstone, the less extravagant array of necklaces and regalia (in comparison with neighboring Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh), and the treatment of the halo with its distinct triangular sunbeams, bordered by a plain circular rim. Literature comparison Compare the aforementioned various idioms with examples attributed to Uttar Pradesh in Desai & Mason (editors), Gods, Guardians, and Lovers, New York, 1993, pages 187-188, 244-247 and 262-263, nr. 28, 62, and 70. Auction result comparison Compare with another monumental buff-to-reddish sandstone stele of Surya, height 152 cm, at Bonhams New York in Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art, on March 19th, 2018, lot 3081, sold for USD 492,500.