depicting a yaksha with female attendants

An architectural fragment of a frieze depicting a four-armed yaksha sitting at royal ease holding a fruit, a money bag, a knot and an elephant goad. He sits in the centre of a colonade with four columns with four annular rings each, with a female attendant on his left holding flywhisk. A further two bejewlled females figures stand within the niches created by the outer columns. On the right hand side there is a jawless kirttimukka with bulging round eyes and a foliate scroll curling up from his mouth over his head on the left hand side: the other side of which has been broken off. The architrave and base of the colonade have decorative curlicues carved into the flat planes of the mouldings.

Given by the Architectural Association, Royal Architectural Museum, 37 Great Smith Street, Westminster, S.W

Given by the Architectural Association, to which this and 51 related architectural pieces from ruined temples devastated by Muslim raiders in the 14th and 15th centuries on the twin summits of Mount Shatrunjaya, Palitana in Gujarat, IM 53-112-1916, had been presented by Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, Ist baronet, G.C.B, C.C.S.I. (1815-1884), former Governor of Bombay, in 1877.

As John Guy writes in The Peaceful Liberators the high degree of stylistic uniformity suggests that these pieces were collected from a single temple, or at least from sites that were contemporary. They are related to known Solanki dynasty temples of the 11th and 12th centuries: inscriptions record that endowments were made to the Shatrunjaya temples during the reign of Siddharaja Jayasimha (1095-1142), a Solanki ruler renowned for his patronage.

Given by the Architectural Association, Royal Architectural Museum, 37 Great Smith Street, Westminster, S.W. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Museum records (Asia Department registers and/or Central Inventory) as part of a 2023 provenance research project.

R.P. 1915-3836M and R.P. 1916-2270M

IM.82-1916