A silver-inlaid bronze figure of Shiva and Parvati atop Nandi, Northern India, Himachal Pradesh, likely Chamba, 10th century

Spink & Son Ltd., London, early 1970s.

Collection of Nik Douglas, circa 1980, no. 70.

A four-armed Shiva seated atop Nandi holds a small figure of his wife and divine consort, Parvati, atop his proper-left knee.

Chamba, a hill-town where many significant bronze figures originate, is located less than two hundred miles from the Vale of Kashmir. The sculptures from the 10th and 11th centuries found in Himachal Pradesh share a stylistic resemblance with those from Kashmir, which is not surprising considering the close proximity of the two regions.

However, there are some stylistic and iconographical differences between the two regions. For example, the conjoined aureole of Himachal Pradesh bronzes is typically plain and flat, unlike the incised flame motifs often found on the aureoles of Kashmiri bronzes. The silver-inlaid eyes are also a feature inherited from the Kashmiri tradition of sculpture.