360 - SEATED BRONZE CHAMUNDRA NEPAL 18TH CENTURY

SEATED BRONZE CHAMUNDRA NEPAL 18TH CENTURY Dimensions: Height 12,5 cm Wide 7 cm Depth 4,5 cm Weight: 656 grams A Nepalese bronze image of the fierce goddess Chamunda seated against a rectangular aureole. She is represented in her characteristic emaciated form, with skeletal body, gaunt face and a dramatic coiffure rising above the head. Multiple arms spread around the torso and carry ritual and martial attributes, while the compact arrangement of limbs and surrounding elements gives the sculpture an intentionally intense, crowded energy. Chamunda is one of the most fearsome manifestations of the Great Goddess. Associated with cremation grounds, mortality and the destruction of demonic forces, her terrifying appearance is not simply macabre: in Tantric imagery it embodies the power to overcome fear, attachment and death itself. Her skeletal form therefore carries a complex protective and transformative meaning. The dark aged bronze surface accentuates the deeply modelled anatomy and recesses between the arms. At this scale the image has an almost talismanic concentration, compressing a complex iconography into a small but forceful devotional object.