62 - Shaman on horseback

Shaman on horseback with a well-worn mount. Wood, remnants of white clay, ancient patina and signs of wear, traces of sindur (red pigment) on the rider’s forehead, a few cracks and chips. Dolpo region, Mugu area, extreme northwest of Nepal. H. 95 × W. 62 × D. 30 cm. Provenance: Former Joaquín Pecci Collection, Brussels Publications: - Éric Chazot, Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert, *Himalayas – Art & Shamans*, Paris, LMDD, 2009, Volume I, nos. 110–111. - Tribal Arts - Winter/Spring 1999/2000 - Art and Shamanism in the Himalayas by Eric Chazot and Jean-Pierre Girolami, pp. 62–79 - Exhibition catalog from the Renaux Vanuxem Gallery, “Archaic Sculpture of Western Nepal,” p. 13 Exhibition: City Hall of the 6th arrondissement, Paris, 2007. The disproportion between the rider and his mount gives this sculpture its profound tension: the animal seems to move forward under the weight of a presence that transcends it. In the Mugu region, on the edge of Dolpo, these equestrian figures belong to a mythical universe where the rider—sometimes interpreted as a shaman—seems to traverse worlds rather than simply occupy space. The mark of sindur on the forehead signifies a point of strength and protection, as if the image preserved the memory of a ritual activation.