Pair of Silver & Copper-Inlaid Bronze Crawling Balakrishnas

This fine pair of well-cast images of Krishna shows the deity as a crawling infant – a form known as Balakrishna. In each image, he holds a butter ball in his right hand. He is naked other than for a chest band, a waist band, and jewellery. His left hand rests on what appears to be another butterball. He wears a long plait down his back.

Each image is heavy-in-the-hand, having been cast from solid bronze. The jewellery, sacred cords, hairline, finger and toe nails and eyes are all delineated by having been inlaid either with high-grade silver or copper.

He wears multiple necklaces, bracelets, upper arm bands, anklets, and hair decoration as well as a tall, jewelled hair decoration. All the while, Krishna maintains a serene, knowing, slightly smiling expression.

The imagery of the butterballs relates to an incident in Krishna’s early life when he stole a butterball from his mother’s larder.

Both images are in excellent condition. They are highly decorative.