Nandi Stand

 

Nandi stand left

This appears to be a stand of some form either to hold a lamp or deity on top of the ridged circular platform.Nandi stand right

The middle portion shows a bull/Nandi galloping. The bulls front and rear legs are supported by circular platforms.

The bottom structure is a ridged, bell-shaped pedestal. It is solid cast and quite heavy. A robust construction.

Antiquities of Himachal Pradesh by M Postel, A Neven and K Mankodi has photos of several such stands, page 176, and they all have Garuda in the middle portion, instead of Nandi/Bull as in this example. That book identifies them as a lamp base, probably from Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh. They are dated from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century.

One other example is from the Norton Simon Museum. It is also with Garuda in the middle portion and is dated to the eighteenth century.

The bronze in this blog is about 18.5 cm in height and it is probably from Himachal Pradesh. I have seen examples which were assigned to Bengal. The patina is deep. It may date to the nineteenth century or little earlier.

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