A gray schist 'winged triton' erotic panel, Ancient Region of Gandhara, circa 2nd / 3rd century

Acquired circa 1970.

Chandreyi Basu, Displaying Many Faces: Art and Gandharan Identity. Selections from the David R. Nalin Collection, Philadelphia, 2004, pl. 10.

This rare erotic panel depicting tritons derives its iconography from Graeco-Roman mythology. The two mythical beings, formed from marine creatures with human torsoes and serpentine legs, are framed next to a Corinthian pillar in a dynamic erotic posture. The curvilinear outline of the panel suggested that it may have functioned as a stair riser.

Dr. David R. Nalin, born in 1941, is a world-leading physiologist and recipient of the Pollin Prize for Pediatric Research and the 2006 Prince Mahidol Award. The Oral Rehydration Therapy that he pioneered while on assignment to former East Pakistan, now Bangladesh in the 1960s is estimated to have saved over 50 million lives. His scientific work in South Asia lasted for 12 years, a period of time where he also embarked on a collecting journey of remarkable breadth and scope.

Many of the masterpieces acquired by David in his early years in Asia are now core objects in the Asian art displays of major US museums, including a substantial collection donated to the Newark Museum of Art in 1989, numerous artworks donated to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the spectacular Pala bronze figure of Durga slaying the demon Mahisha, recently acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no. 2020.399.

The artworks offered in this sale, the majority acquired in the late 1960s, have been extensively exhibited and published, and the Himalayan works were included in an exhibition at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York in 2003, Artful Beneficence. Selections from the David R. Nalin Himalayan Art Collection.