138 - RARE STANDING BRONZE OF MANASA INDIA 18TH CENTURY

RARE STANDING BRONZE OF MANASA INDIA 18TH CENTURY Dimensions: Height 17,5 cm Wide 11 cm Depth 9 cm Weight: 1452 grams A highly individual bronze figure of Manasa standing upright on a deep rectangular plinth. The figure raises one hand in a blessing-like gesture while the other rests at the hip, and wears a necklace, simple ornaments and a closely wrapped lower garment. Beside the feet is a small vessel or rounded attribute, while two vertical posts rise from the base behind the figure. The entire bronze is covered by a pale green patina with earthier brown areas showing through on the raised surfaces. Manasa is associated with snakes, protection and fertility in eastern Indian religious tradition, and her worship is especially rooted in Bengal and neighbouring regions. The figure's simplified modelling and direct frontal presence give it the character of a strongly local devotional image rather than a courtly ideal. The most compelling feature is the surface. Thick green oxidation has softened the details and unified figure, base and attributes into a single colour field, while areas of exposed metal reveal the bronze beneath. That layered patina gives the sculpture an archaeological, time-worn quality and emphasises the physical history of the object as much as its iconography.