A BRONZE FIGURE OF THE HINDU SAINT MANIKKAVACAKAR, NAYAKA PERIOD, 17TH-18TH CENTURY

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A BRONZE FIGURE OF THE HINDU SAINT MANIKKAVACAKAR, NAYAKA PERIOD, 17TH-18TH CENTURY South India. Finely cast, the Shaiva saint standing upon a circular lotus base, his right hand raised in a teaching gesture and holding a rosary, while the left supports a rectangular palm-leaf manuscript. He is clad in a short dhoti flaring gently at the sides and adorned with beaded necklaces and armlets. The sensitively modeled face bears an animated expression, with elongated eyes, a broad nose, and full lips forming a wide smile, flanked by long pierced earlobes symbolizing his renunciation of worldly wealth, the hair is arranged in tight curls, with locks falling to either side of the head. Dimensions: Height 24.7 cm The poet-saint Manikkavacakar (He whose utterances are rubies) is generally regarded as the most important south Indian saint devoted to the Hindu god Siva. His birth name was Tennavan Brahmarayan, but he is today known only as Manikkavacakar, an honorific name that was given to him by another saint who was in awe of the beauty of his poetry. His most significant poems and hymns were codified as the Tiruvacakam (Sacred Utterances), which forms the eighth book of the south Indian religious canon. Manikkavacakar likely lived in the 9th century, more than a century after the last of the original Shaiva saints. For this reason, he is not classed among the traditional 63 nayanars, but devotion to this later saint was still fervent nonetheless. The hymns recount that Manikkavacakar was originally a minister to the King Varaguna of Madurai, who tasked him with purchasing a large group of horses for the kingdom's cavalry. Enroute on his mission, the young minister encountered the god Shiva disguised as a sagely guru. Enraptured by his teachings, Manikkavacakar used the money intended for the horses to construct a temple to Shiva at Perunturai. The enraged king expelled the young official from his kingdom, and so Manikkavacakar began his life as a wandering devotee, singing the praises of the lord Shiva in song and poem. The common people of Tamil Nadu, stirred by his devotion to the god, began to revere the wandering believer as part of a new group of saints, and like Sambandar or Chandesha before him, Manikkavacakar was eventually represented in sculpture, almost always shown with the book in one hand and the other in the gesture of teaching. Literature comparison: Compare two related examples of earlier date and larger size, one depicting the same subject, dated early 12th century, 63.5 cm high, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number AC1997.16.1; and the other depicting the saint Appar, with similar hairstyle and jewelry, from Tanjore, dated 12th-13th century, in the Denver Art Museum, accession number 1962.298. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Christie’s New York, 23 March 2022, lot 461 Price: USD 63,000 or approx. EUR 63,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling with similar beaded jewelry, facial expression, and hair. Note the much larger size (64.8 cm) and different subject. Auction result comparison: Type: Related Auction: Sotheby’s Paris, 11 June 2026, lot 94 Price: EUR 10,240 Expert remark: Compare the related modeling, manner of casting, and size (26.5 cm). Note the different, more common subject.

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