An exceptionally fine bronze figure of Skanda, South India, Tamil Nadu, Chola dynasty, 10th-11th century , with bow legged posture as if he were dancing, beaded tassels draped around his naked frame and two circular ear-disks suspended above the shoulders, the hair bunched in a tall, ornate coiffure crowning his regal form, the arms held out frontally, the fingers delicately pinching the stems of two lotus buds as if in offering to his mother and father, 15cm high The joyful young figure would have originally featured in a depiction of Somaskanda, framed centrally between two larger figures of his mother and father. In its joyful dynamis, this impeccable sculpture represents the art of the Cholas at its very finest, recalling the exuberance of similar contemporary depictions of divine infants such as Krishna and Sambander. For reference on Skanda see Dehejia, 2007, Chola: Sacred bronzes of Southern India; Dehejia, 2003, The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India. Provenance: Private UK Collection.