A MEDIEVAL INDIAN BUFF SANDSTONE SCULPTURE OF GANESHA
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE LONDON ESTATE
Possibly Mathura, Northern India, 12th - 13th century

Carved on three sides with a flat back, possibly once part of a stele or architectural niche, presenting the bejewelled Hindu elephant-headed god Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles, standing in a tribhanga pose with a floral medallion as halo, six of his arms and hands still intact (possibly ten arms in total), holding a variety of the god's lakshanas (distinctive attributes), in his lower left hand a bowl of Indian laddoos, Ganesha's favourite treats, in his lower right hand a single laddoo being chomped by the deity, the other hands holding a noose, his broken tusk, and a mala rosary bead, two flying apsaras attending the deity carved on the upper corners, mounted on a large rectangular metal stand with an old inventory sticker reading The Roland-Geist Collection, Gift of George Roland, 79cm x 60cm x 25cm including the stand.

Provenance: by repute, purchased at auction by the uncle of the present vendor at Spink's in the 1970's, and in his private collection in the UK since.