† A BRONZE FIGURE OF DATTATREYA, INDIA, LATE VIJAYANAGARA PERIOD, 16TH–17TH CENTURY

† A BRONZE FIGURE OF DATTATREYA, INDIA, LATE VIJAYANAGARA PERIOD, 16TH–17TH CENTURY

Expert's note
The present bronze is one of the earliest sculptural representations of Dattatreya in his Trimurti (three-headed) form. While his arms and attributes are lost, the different marks on the foreheads of the three heads clearly identify the sculpture as Dattatreya. The sensuous modeling of the torso, gently swelling abdomen, and composed expressions give the figure considerable presence. Finely articulated jewelry and flowing patterned drapery enrich the slender silhouette without obscuring its anatomy, while the variegated green and brown patina, mineral encrustations, and weathered recesses lend the surface exceptional depth.

Finely cast, the six-armed deity is depicted standing in samabhanga, wearing a pleated lower garment falling gracefully over the legs, its hems richly decorated with scroll designs and beaded borders. The bare torso is adorned with large beaded necklaces and a long garland draped over and around the shoulders, with a small bag suspended from the left shoulder and resting close against his waist.

The three heads, each with youthful feminine features and a serene expression, have almond-shaped eyes beneath gently arched brows, centered by raised tilakas, delicate noses, and full lips forming subtle smiles. Their neatly incised hair is drawn up into beautifully coiled chignons secured with beaded bands.

Provenance: An old private collection in Bordeaux, France. The private collection of Eric Dieu, acquired from the above in 1995.

Eric Dieu is a Frenchman who established Galerie Mouhot, a gallery specializing in Khmer Art based in River City Bangkok, named after Henri Mouhot (1826-1861), the mid-19th century naturalist and explorer credited with reintroducing the world to the grandeur of Angkor and the Khmer civilization.

Condition: Fragmentary condition with ancient wear, expected casting irregularities, traces of weathering, areas of corrosion, encrustations, obvious losses, small chips to exposed areas, minor touchups to the lower portion of the garment. The bronze with a rich, naturally grown patina with malachite encrustation.

Weight: 6.2 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 41.3 cm (excl. stand), 43.2 cm (incl. stand)

With an modern metal stand. (2)

Dattatreya

unites the identities of divine incarnation and spiritual teacher. The son of the sage Atri and his wife Anasuya, he appears in the Bhagavata Purana among Vishnu's incarnations, imparting spiritual knowledge to Alarka, Prahlada, and other disciples. This account establishes the teaching role that remains central to his worship. In the composite conception represented here, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are embodied in a single being, expressing the unity of their divine powers.

Dattatreya's devotional heartland encompasses Maharashtra and northern Karnataka, notably Ganagapur. Earlier images frequently show a single-headed yogin or Vishnu-like deity; the three-headed form became prominent from the sixteenth century. Rigopoulos associates this development with the Guru-caritra, circa 1550, and hymns attributed to Eknath. Its presence in southern temple sculpture is established by the standing Dattatreya carved on a pillar of the sixteenth-century Virabhadra temple at Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh, see Antonio Rigopoulos, Dattatreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatara, Albany, 1998, p. 234.

A further iconographic parallel is the stone relief at the Jambukeswarar Temple, Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu. Its three-headed deity stands in a long garment, adorned with necklaces and accompanied by four dogs. The arrangement of the heads, frontal stance, and extended drapery offer a useful comparison with the present bronze, whose fully modeled body and delicately worked surface give the same conception a distinctly sculptural intimacy.

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