South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull
South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull

South Indian Bronze Lamp Finial in the Form of a Caparisoned Nandi Bull

17841

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Vijayanagara to post-Vijayanagara Period, ca. 16th–18th century AD.

Cast in the round as the seated humped bull Nandi, sacred vahana of Shiva, richly caparisoned with an incised necklace of bells and roundels, a saddle cloth with tasseled borders across the haunches, and a fringed pendant hanging from the collar, the bull's ears alert and muzzle raised in the placid, faintly smiling expression typical of South Indian temple bronzes; the figure surmounts a tall baluster-form stem articulated with a sequence of ring-turned moldings, spreading collars, and inverted lotus-bud swells, identifying the piece as the crowning handle or finial from a ceremonial deepalakshmi-type oil lamp or lamp stand rather than a freestanding votive image. The surface carries a dense, even dark-brown to olive patina with pockets of earthen encrustation and mineral bloom in the recesses of the tooling, wear consistent with generations of ritual handling and old excavation-context burial, and no modern restoration is apparent; the bronze is structurally sound with the casting seams and incised decoration still crisp and legible. 
Size:  5-7/8 in. (14.9 cm) height; 8-1/4 in. (21 cm) as mounted on its custom wood base.

Cf: A bronze in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art, whose 12th-century Tamil Nadu Nandi (Freer Gallery, F1985.30) shares the same caparisoned, bell-hung treatment of the sacred bull, while related lamp columns and handles surmounted by Nandi and other vahana figures appear among the temple bronzes illustrated in the Ashmolean Museum's Eastern Art collection. 

All pieces are unconditionally guaranteed authentic and as described in perpetuity and have been legally acquired and imported in full accordance with U.S. and applicable foreign regulations regarding the movement and sale of antiquities.

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