Fyrarmad Ganesha från Hoysala i sydöstra Indien. Sittande mot en rikt dekorerad bakgrund, prabha, som i sina fyra händer håller en yxa, bete, lotusblomma och konfektskål. Elaborerade utsmyckningar draperar hans mage, utstående öron, rik huvudklädnad. Höjd 84 cm (33 in.).
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Skador, slitage.
Marabousamlingen, Sundbyberg/Upplands-Väsby (inköpt den 21 december 1972 från Spink & Son Ltd, London för £5250, inköpskvitto medföljer).
Kraft Foods Sverige AB, Upplands-Väsby.
Compare similar sold at Christies, New York, 2011, from The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago. Auction 2510. Lot 45.
Also Compare object no B68S4 at Asian Art Museum, San Franscisco.
Henning Throne-Holst, "Ur Marabous byggnadshistoria", Stockholm 1977, avbildad och beskriven sid 64.
Ragnar von Holten, "Art at Marabou", Uddevalla 1990, avbildad samt omnämnd sid 41.
Jämförande litteratur: Pratapaditya Pal, A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, 1997, sid 57 och 286, kat nr 64.
Worshipped as the god of good luck and remover of obstacles, Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is one of the most popular gods in the Hindu pantheon. The rotund body and short legs of this 11/12th-century sculpture of Ganesha typifies representations of the deity.
Ganesha's elephant head, like his multiple arms, is a mark of his divine nature, and various myths explain how he acquired it. One of the most popular is that Ganesha's elephant head is the result of a quarrel between Shiva and Parvati. Angered by Ganesha's refusal--at Parvati's behest--to let him see his wife while she was bathing, Shiva cut off Ganesha's head, and Parvati was devastated with grief. In order to soothe her, Shiva replaced the head with that of the first creature he saw, which happened to be an elephant.
Elephants carry complex symbolism in the Indian cultural world. Because they are thought to resemble rain clouds in color and shape, they have long been associated with fertility and prosperity.