- Title
- Celestial Rider on a Griffin, From a Throneback
- Date Made
- circa 1400
- Medium
- Repoussé gilt copper alloy
- Dimensions
- 7 x 8 3/4 x 3 1/8 in. (17.78 x 22.22 x 7.9 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.74.10.2a
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This repoussé gilt copper alloy openwork plaque and its mirror-image mate (M.74.10.2b) were presumably once attached to the upper sides of an elaborate throneback behind an image of a Buddhist deity or revered teacher. This plaque would have been on the proper right side of the throneback. South Asian and Himalayan thronebacks traditionally follow an iconographic ordering of three slightly varying components (see M.2001.1). They are now best known from painted representations (see M.81.90.5). The upper element, such as represented by these plaques, typically depicts a rearing griffin (vyala or shardula) with a celestial rider symbolic of heavenly wealth. The middle element can be a winged demigod (kinnara) representing celestial riches or a form of a mythical aquatic creature (makara). The lower element usually features an elephant, and sometimes a lion.
Here, the celestial rider is crowned, ornamented, and wears a billowing scarf. The hand closest to the head of the griffin is held in an indeterminate gesture, perhaps representing his holding of the omitted reins. The second hand is extended upward and may have originally grasped the stalk of a lotus. The rider stands on one leg astride the back of the Griffon with his other leg extended behind it so that his pose resembles the militant posture (alidha asana). The griffin has a composite form with a leonine body, feet, and tail; the head and beak of an eagle or Garuda; and two pairs of horns: one pair of a bull and the other of a ram.
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Nepal. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1985.