A large black stone Pala stele of Surya. Northeast-India, Bihar. 11th/12th century
The personification of the sun stands in samapada wearing boots on a plinth displaying the seven horses of his celestial chariot and the legless figure of his charioteer Aruna, the hands are held in varadamudra with lotus growing out from the palms coming to a full bloom above his shoulder, wearing a pleated dhoti and shawl over his lower arms. The body is adorned by a tiara with diadem, a necklace and the beaded upavita. To his side stands the pot-bellied Pingala with inkwell and pen and the skinny Dandin holding a sword, in front of them Usa and Pratyusa dispelling the darkness with their bows and arrows. On the back-slab to both sides the eight representatives of the Nine Planets (Navagraha), the ninth planet being Surya himself. At the top celestial beings holding garlands and a kirthimukha with scrolls emanating from its mouth.
Height 101.5 cm
The present stele is a rare and unusual example not merely for its size but also for its iconography, representing Surya along with the eight of the Nine Planets. For another rare example compare a stele very similar in style and composition in the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh (https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-search-results/figure/391138).
Provenance
Collection Kurt Erwin Stavenhagen (Frankfurt 1899-1984 Mexico City), offered at Dr. Ernst Hauswedell, Hamburg, 27.11.1961, lot 55 (estimate DM 13.500) and Dr. Ernst Hauswedell, Hamburg, 26.11.1962, lot 29 (estimate DM 12.500)
Georg L. Hartl, Antike Kunst des indisch-chinesischen Kulturkreises, illustrated in the flyer published in occasion of the seventh Westdeutschen Kunstmesse in Düsseldorf, 20.-28.3.1976
Collection Jansen, acquired from Georg L. Hartl, Munich at the seventh Westdeutschen Kunstmesse in Düsseldorf 20.-28.3.1976 (receipt for DM 15.000 dated 27.3.1976)
Literature
Published in: Kunst und Antiquitäten auf der Westdeutschen Messe, in: Weltkunst, 1. März 1976, p. 343 und G. L. H. (Georg L. Hartl), Eine Surya-Stele auf der Westdeutschen Kunstmesse, in: Weltkunst, 15. März 1976, p. 521