~87 A RARE IVORY FIGURE <strong>OF</strong> PARVATI POSSIBLY MADURAI, TAMIL NADU, SOUTH <strong>INDIA</strong>, 17TH/18TH CENTURY On cruciform plinth, depicted standing, her face with bulging almond eyes, the crescent moon and the sun in her parted hair which is arranged in a long braid, her ears pierced with large circular earrings, richly attired and wearing intricate and heavy jewellery, holding a lotus in her right hand, her left arm near her body 9Ωin. (24cm.) high £6,000-8,000 $8,600-11,000 €7,500-10,000 A 17th century carving of Nayak Tirumala and one of his wives, closely related in style to the present piece, is in the Srirangam temple museum (Mattiebelle Gittinger, Master Dyers to the World, Washington, 1982, cat.107, p.119). Another ivory fgure of Parvati together with one of Shiva, attributed to Madurai in Tamil Nadu and dated 18th century, are now kept at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (81.192.1-2). ~88 87 A LARGE IVORY ROSEWATER BOTTLE SOUTH <strong>INDIA</strong>, 19TH CENTURY 87 (reverse) Of cylindrical form, on circular foot with plain base, decorated with repeating dotted roundel motifs forming geometric patterns, inlaid with red composition, the bulbous tiered stopper with similar decoration 10¡in. (26.4cm.) high £1,800-2,200 $2,600-3,100 €2,300-2,700 88 ~89 AN IVORY GROUP DEPICTING DURGA SLAYING THE ELEPHANT-DEMON (KARINDRASURA) BEHRAMPUR, EASTERN <strong>INDIA</strong>, CIRCA 1850 Carved and assembled as a miniature shrine, the goddess rides her lionvehicle, she wears her attributes and a peacock crown, her lion is atop the elephant-demon and on a raised platform, deities and ascetics around perched on raising lotuses, above them a fnely carved tympanum with Durga in battle, stylised boteh fowers around, within a wooden frame 10 Ωin. (26.5cm.) high £6,000-8,000 $8,600-11,000 €7,500-10,000 89 A very closely related carved ivory group of Durga Mahishasuramardini which is attributed to Behrampur, circa 1850 is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. 1070-1852; Neeta Das and Rosie Llewellyn-Jones (ed.), Murshidabad: Forgotten Capital of Bengal, Mumbai, 2013, no.5, p.109). 60
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