A DEVOTIONAL SILVER REPOUSSÉ PLAQUE OF VIRABHADRA
Possibly Maharashtra or Karnataka, Central-Western India, 19th century

Of rectangular shape, chased in high relief, in the centre the murti of the Hindu god Shiva in his most powerful form, the four-armed wrathful Virabhadra, standing in front of an elaborate torana (archway), carrying his typical attributes like the bow, arrow and sword, wearing a diaphanous dhoti, heavy earrings, elaborate jewellery around his neck, ankle amulets and a headdress crowned by a seven-headed naga creature just below a kirtimukkha face, to the sides of the god the symbols of the sun and the moon, to the bottom left Daksha with his ram's head and to the bottom right the goddess Bhadrakali, both these characters' hands in anjali mudra (the prayer position), an accurate devotional plaque illustrating the full iconographical cycle of Virabhadra, 16cm x 12.5cm.