Garuda

Object Details

• Label

  Garuda, the divine eagle, is the god Vishnu's vehicle. Depicted here in human form, Garuda's avian qualities are reflected in his wings and beaklike nose, the tip of which is broken off. Garuda kneels on one knee on a double lotus pedestal, and his palms are joined in a gesture of adoration of his master. He is richly adorned, as befits one of his stature, and wears a crown that holds in place a halo-like double row of ringlets. This double-sided sculpture originally surmounted a freestanding pillar in front of a shrine dedicated to Vishnu.

• Provenance

  Reportedly between 1968 and 1971 to 1990

  David R. Nalin purchased in East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh) [1]

  From 1990

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from David R. Nalin [2]

  Notes:

  [1] David R. Nalin is an American physiologist who worked at the Cholera Research Hospital in Dhaka when it was part of Pakistan from 1967 until the Liberation War of 1971, and then again in 1972 after the creation

  of Bangladesh. Nalin collected sculptures while living abroad and later employed

  Peter Marks Works of Art to manage his collection. In 1989, Peter Marks (d. 2010), of Peter Marks Works of Art, provided the Freer Gallery of Art with a "summary of acquisition, ownership, and history" relating to a sculpture now in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (NGA89.1365), copy in object file. In the document, Marks instructed that the contents of the document should "apply to any object in the [Nalin] collection." The summary reports that in 1969, Nalin shipped his collection from Dhaka to Chittagong then onto Karachi and finally onto New York. Nalin "assumed[d] that the customs agent[s] handled all clearances and declarations according to the laws and agreements in effect at the time."

  [2] Peter Marks Works of Art, acted as an agent for David R. Nalin in the sale of the sculpture. See Invoice from Peter Marks Works of Art, September 18, 1990, original in accession file. The Freer Gallery of Art issued payment on September 28, 1990.

  Research completed November 15, 2022.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas (March 25, 2023 - ongoing)

  Gods, Companions, and Devotees (October 14, 2017 to March 13, 2020)

  South Asian Sculpture (February 22, 2000 to June 18, 2003)

  South and South East Asian Art (May 9, 1993 to February 7, 2000)

  Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: the Art of Pala India (November 11, 1989 to December 2, 1990)

  Medieval Sculpture from Eastern India (1985)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Dr. David R. Nalin

  Peter Marks, Inc. (active 1963-2002)

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1100s

• Name

  Nalin, David R., Peter Marks, Inc.

• Place

  Bangladesh, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Eagles, Lotus, Stone, Pala-Sena dynasty (750 - 1100), Garuda, Halo

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Sculpture