Seated Vishnu (Orissa)

 

Seated Vishnu This is Vishnu and he is identified by his attributes. He is holding a mace, a discus, a conch shell and a lotus in his hands, clockwise starting from his lower right hand.  The mace and lotus are firmly clasped as compared to the way discuss and conch shell are held.

The beaded rim of the base, peaked crown and flares on the side of the crown suggest this bronze is from Orissa.

Seated Vishnu back

Note the way Vishnu’s chest is sculpted, the effort taken to show the toned upper body. Even otherwise this is a robust bronze.

Vishnu is seated in Padmasana, a meditative posture.  His attributes in his hands, weapons like discuss, mace and conch shell,  are at variance to the asana. This form of Vishnu is called Madhava based on the order in which the attributes are held.

This bronze is about 9.5 cm in height. There are signs of age, worn forehead and crown, the bronze disease showing through and the patina. This may date to the eighteenth century. T.E Donaldson in his book on The Iconography of Vaishnava Images in Orissa documents two examples of seated with Vishnu with matching attributes and order. Those examples are dated to the eighteenth century.

 

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