Lot 8 Nα

A large copper alloy figure of Shiva nataraja. Southern India. 19th century

Standing four-handed on one leg on the demon Apasmarapurusha, the personification of ignorance, in his subsidiary hands a small drum and a flame, in his piled-up hair a snake and a skull, while seven strands of hair flutter to each side of the head. The small demon holds a snake which has dropped from Shiva's left wrist and lies prostrate on a double lotus above a rectangular base. Shiva dances within a flaming aureole, surmounted by a mahakala head.
Height 50 cm