A BRASS DEVOTIONAL PLAQUE DEPICTING VIRABHADRA, 17TH CENTURY

A BRASS DEVOTIONAL PLAQUE DEPICTING VIRABHADRA, 17TH CENTURY India. Heavily cast, the four-armed deity standing in samabhanga beneath an arch with a central kirtimukha mask, flanked on both sides by a crescent moon and a sun disk. His principle hands holding a sword and a shield, which rests with one end on the ground, with his secondary hands holding a trident in the right and a damaru in the left. Standing to his left is Sati, daughter of Daksha, and to his right the goat-headed Daksha, who stands next to a crowned naga, its cobra-hood flaring. Cast with intermittent apertures for mounting. Provenance: From the collection of Muriel Olesen and Gerald Minkoff. Viennese private collection, acquired from the above. Muriel Olesen (1948-2020) was a Swiss art historian who taught at the Toepffer school in Geneva. After meeting her husband Gerald Minkoff (1937-2009), a Swiss anthropologist and biologist, she transitioned to a career as an artist. They began to work together in 1967 and produced various works of art in the fields of video, photography, and multimedia. Their installations have been exhibited at the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts, the Archeology Museum in Tarragona, and the Museum of Moudon, among others. Muriel was awarded the Federal Fine Arts Grant on three occasions and the prestigious Prize of the City of Geneva in 2011. In Switzerland, the couple are known as pioneers of video art. Condition: Very good condition with extensive wear, predominantly from years of worship within the culture, with rubbing, minor casting flaws, few minute nicks, and minuscule dents. Weight: 1,037 g Dimensions: Height 21.1 cm Virabhadra, an incarnation of Shiva, created after Shiva’s wife Sati, was not invited to a great sacrifice given by her father Daksha. Being greatly humiliated, Sati went to the banquet and threw herself on the sacrificial fire. When Shiva heard of his wife’s death, he tore a hair from his head and threw it to the ground. Virabhadra, a great hero-warrior, arose from this hair. He cut off Daksha’s head in his rage and hurled it into the sacrificial fire. After the other gods calmed Shiva down, Daksha’s head was replaced by that of a ram and he later became a devotee of Shiva. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related copper alloy figure of Virabhadra flanked by Daksha and Sati as well as a sun and crescent moon, dated to the 18th century, 26 cm high, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number IS.2752-1883. Compare a related copper alloy figure of Virabhadra flanked by Daksha and Sati, dated 17th/18th century, illustrated in Marilia Albanese and Renzo Freschi’s article Virabhadra, the Divine Warrior on his website, fig 2, formerly published in Arts of Asia, Autumn 2022.