A WOOD PANEL OF A GANA


SOUTH INDIA, PROBABLY KERALA, 17TH/18TH CENTURY16 1/2 in. (42 cm) high
|The dwarf-like figure (gana) dances holding a boon and petaled vase. Gana are typically depicted at the top of columns supporting beams, or in the lower friezes of a sculpture as attendants to Ganesha in the presence of Shiva. As noted by Kramrisch, "They dance and make music; they are forms of irrepressible joy of life". (Manifestations of Shiva, Philadelphia, 1981, p.84). Another South Indian dancing wood gana with four arms on a similar lotus platform is in the British Museum (1960,0225.4). Provenance Collection of John Edward Marshall, Massachusetts, acquired in 1968 Thence by descent