THE FIVE-FACED GOD SHIVA (PANCHAVAKTRA OR PANCHANANA)
Possibly Jaipur, Rajasthan or Northern India in Mandi style, late 20th century

Acrylic colours and opaque pigments on wove paper, the vertical portrait replicating a renowned image of the five-faced God Shiva painted in Mandi and dated ca. 1730 - 1740 once part of the Gayer-Anderson collection, now permanently in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection (IS.239-1952), the Hindu deity portrayed seated cross-legged with ten arms holding typical Shaivite attributes and four faces, the fifth face believed to be on the reverse side following the iconographic convention of the leading Shiva temple in Mandi situated at the confluence of the rivers Suketi and Beas, the Panchavaktra temple, set within black and white rules and red borders, 25.6cm x 20.2cm.

For a direct link to the Gayer-Anderson collection's painting at the V&A Museum, please click on the following link: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O74041/shiva-painting-unknown/ (last accessed: 05/03/2022).