Not currently on display at the V&A

Narasimha and Lakshmi

Figure
1750-1825 (made)
Place of origin

This form is also known as Lakshminarasimha. Essentially this is a Laksminarayana image of Vishnu in the avatar of the Man-Lion, Narasimha, with a lion head. Narasimha sits in lalitasana with his smaller consort (holding a lotus flower) sitting on his left knee. His upper arms hold the conch and chakra, the lower right is held in abhaya mudra and the lower left holds his consort. A triangular moulded srivatsa marks his right chest. They sit on a well-engraved base with incised lotus petals and a frieze ornamented with alternate panels of trellis decoration and rosettes of punched circles. The base extends out at the back to support two upstanding tenons for a missing arch over the figures.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleNarasimha and Lakshmi (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Copper alooy casting
Brief description
Narasimha with Lakshmi; sculpture, copper alloy, South India, 1750-1825
Physical description
This form is also known as Lakshminarasimha. Essentially this is a Laksminarayana image of Vishnu in the avatar of the Man-Lion, Narasimha, with a lion head. Narasimha sits in lalitasana with his smaller consort (holding a lotus flower) sitting on his left knee. His upper arms hold the conch and chakra, the lower right is held in abhaya mudra and the lower left holds his consort. A triangular moulded srivatsa marks his right chest. They sit on a well-engraved base with incised lotus petals and a frieze ornamented with alternate panels of trellis decoration and rosettes of punched circles. The base extends out at the back to support two upstanding tenons for a missing arch over the figures.
Dimensions
  • Height: 10.1cm
  • Weight: 377g
Object history
Transferred from the India Museum in London to the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) in 1879. It is numbered 291 in the India Museum Slips and records that it was presented to the museum by Dr J. Taylor.
Subjects depicted
Collection
Accession number
526(IS)

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
Record URL
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