Provenance Information

Purchased for MCCM by Robert Walzer [Nathan Rubin - Ida Ladd Family Foundation], Georgetown, Connecticut, July 2000, possibly from Kapoor Galleries, New York, New York.

Exhibition Information

MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2004 - April 4, 2021;
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, August 28, 2021 - Present

Publication Information

Michael C. Carlos Museum: Highlights of the Collections (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2011), 120.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Acquired by museum in 2001.

Provenance Information

With BC Galleries, Armadale, Australia, July 2005. Purchased by MCCM from Sue McGovern-Huffman [Sands of Time Antiquities], Washington DC.

Exhibition Information

From Pharaohs to Emperors: New Egyptian and Classical Antiquities at Emory, Michael C. Carlos Museum, January 14 - April 2, 2006;
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, 2006 - February 12, 2018

Publication Information

Peter Lacovara and Jasper Gaunt, "From Pharaohs to Emperors: Egyptian, Near Eastern & Classical Antiquities at Emory," Minerva (January/February 2006): 9-16.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Purchased by museum in 2005.

Provenance Information

Acquired on the London market by Simon Digby (b. 1932–d. 2010) in the 1970s; Collection of Simon Digby, Jersey Island, United Kingdom; Purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Estate of Simon Digby through John Sidumak in 2014.

Exhibition Information

Exhibited in Asia Week, 2014, Indian and Himalayan Sculpture, John Siudmak at Boerner Gallery, 23 East 73rd Street, New York, New York.

Publication Information

Indian and Himalayan Sculpture, John Siudmak, sale catalogue, 2014, pp. 14–15.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This work was acquired in London in the 1970s and remained in the Collection of Simon Digby until its acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum. Simon Digby, who was born in India to English parents, was a former curator of the Ashmolean Museum and later an independent scholar. This Head of Vaitunkta Vishnu comes from a region in what is today northern Pakistan. The work is likely associated with the Brahmanical mountain complex known as Kashmir Smast, active in the 6th–early 7th century. The iconography represented by works from this site has been of seminal importance in building scholars’ understanding of the evolution of Brahmanical imagery in north-western India generally. Although small in scale, this head of Vishnu represents an important historical moment in the region’s history, witnessed by a shift from Indian Gupta-type crowns to one of Sasanian inspiration, reflecting 6th century regional political re-alliances. It allows a greater understanding of early Vishnu imagery from the northwestern region of the subcontinent.

Provenance Information

Acquired on the London market by Simon Digby (b. 1932–d. 2010) in the 1970s; Collection of Simon Digby, Jersey Island, United Kingdom; Purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Estate of Simon Digby through John Siudmak in 2014.

Exhibition Information

Exhibited in Asia Week, 2014, Indian and Himalayan Sculpture, John Siudmak at Boerner Gallery, 23 East 73rd Street, New York, New York.

Publication Information

Indian and Himalayan Sculpture, John Siudmak, sale catalogue, 2014, pp. 14–15.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This work was acquired in London in the 1970s and remained in the Collection of Simon Digby until its acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum. Simon Digby, who was born in India to English parents, was a former curator of the Ashmolean Museum and later an independent scholar. This Head of Addorsed Maheshvara comes from a region in what is today northern Pakistan. The work is likely associated with the Brahmanical mountain complex known as Kashmir Smast, active in the 6th–early 7th century. The iconography represented by works from this site has been of seminal importance in building scholars’ understanding of the evolution of Brahmanical imagery in north-western India generally. Although small in scale, this work nonetheless represents an important early stage in the esoteric iconographic development of Shiva, which is otherwise unrepresented in the Museum’s holdings, thus allowing a greater understanding of early Saiva imagery from the northwestern region of the subcontinent.

Provenance Information

Acquired on the London market by Simon Digby (b. 1932–d. 2010) in the 1970s; Collection of Simon Digby, Jersey Island, United Kingdom; Purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Estate of Simon Digby through John Siudmak in 2014.

Exhibition Information

Exhibited in Asia Week, 2014, Indian and Himalayan Sculpture, John Siudmak at Boerner Gallery, 23 East 73rd Street, New York, New York.

Publication Information

Indian and Himalayan Sculpture, John Siudmak, sale catalogue, 2014, pp. 12–13.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This work was acquired in London in the 1970s and remained in the Collection of Simon Digby until its acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum. Simon Digby, who was born in India to English parents, was a former curator of the Ashmolean Museum and later an independent scholar. This Head of Shiva comes from a region in what is today northern Pakistan. The work is likely associated with the Brahmanical mountain complex known as Kashmir Smast, active in the 6th–early 7th century. The iconography represented by works from this site has been of seminal importance in building scholars’ understanding of the evolution of Brahmanical imagery in north-western India generally. Though small in scale, this work nonetheless represents an important early stage in stylistic development which is otherwise unrepresented in the Museum’s holdings, thus allowing a greater understanding of early Saiva imagery from the northwestern region of the subcontinent.

Provenance Information

The work was reportedly found in the early 1960’s with five similar works near Faza, 75 kilometers southeast of Shiraz in the province of Fars in Iran. According to Roman Ghirshman, who published the work in 1963, the work was once in the Azizbeghlou collection in Tehran, Iran, but was sold before 1963. In 1966, the work was exhibited at the Musée Rath in Geneva, Switzerland and the catalogue accompanying the exhibition noted that the work was in a private collection. The Metropolitan Museum believes, but does not have independent confirmation, that the private collection was that of Charles Gillet, who died in 1966, or his partner, Marion Schuster, both of Lausanne, Switzerland. Marion Schuster apparently inherited all or most of Charles Gillet’s collection upon his death. When Marion Schuster died, one of her daughters, Mathilde de Goldschmidt Rothschild, who lived in Europe, inherited the work. On July 10, 1989, the work was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in London, Antiquities from the Collection of the Late Madame Marion Schuster, Lausanne and by Descent the Property of Madame Mathilde de Goldschmidt Rothschild, as lot 59. In 1992, the work was sold by Robin Symes to Bodo Schöps, who, in 2004, transferred ownership to the Exartis Foundation. The Exartis Foundation then transferred ownership to Mrs. Hiroko Horiuchi who, in 2010, transferred ownership to Mr. Noriyoshi Horiuchi, from whom The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired the work.

Exhibition Information

In 1966, the work was exhibited at the Musée Rath in Geneva, Switzerland and was also exhibited in connection with the Sotheby’s auction in 1989. The work has been on loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1999 and on display in the Museum’s Ancient Near East galleries since that time.

Publication Information

The work was first published in 1963 in Ghirshman, Roman, “Notes Iraniennes XII, Statuettes Archaïques du Fars (Iran).” Artibus Asiae 26, pp. 151-160. In 1966, the work was published in the catalogue accompanying Musée Rath exhibition. The work was published again in 1968 in Nagel, Wolfram, “Westmakkanische Rundplastik.” Berliner Jahrbuch für Vor- und Frügeschichte 8, pp.104-19. The work was also published in the Sotheby’s auction catalogue in 1989.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The work has provenance established to the 1960’s. Although the Metropolitan Museum has been unable to confirm when the work left Iran on a permanent basis, the Metropolitan Museum suspects that the work was permanently outside Iran and in a Swiss private collection by 1966 since all parties associated with the work since 1966 were Swiss and lived in Switzerland or elsewhere in Europe. The work was published in 1963, 1966, 1968 and 1989, when it was sold at public auction. The work was on public display at the Musée Rath in Geneva in 1966, and has been on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1999. The work is one of six such sculptures known to exist and fulfills a crucial function in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection by allowing the Museum to document an area of the ancient world that became known to archaeologists only a few decades ago.