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Lot 6
Set of 4 vintage Golu Doll Gods
Estimate : 7,000 - 9,000

This lot offers Golu dolls of the Tridevi and Karthikeya. Golu Dolls of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati were given the highest placement during the nine days of worship. Here we find the goddess Meenakshi, an incarnation of Parvati. 

a) Lakshmi
15 x 6 x 5.25 in. 

b) Meenakshi
16.25 x 7 x 6 in.

c) Saraswati
15 x 6 x 4.5 in.

d) Karthikeya
16.5 x 7 x 6 in.


The word “golu” is a Telugu word meaning display. It was customary in the Telugu speaking Nayak palaces, to have a “golu mantapa” or a pavilion that usually faced a garden for the king to be on display in all his finery for his subjects to see him or for artists to entertain him. The tradition of displaying painted terracotta dolls during the nine days of Navaratri or Dussehra probably originated in the times of the Maratha kings of Thanjavur who succeeded the Nayaks and continued the practice of using Telugu as a court language in addition to Marathi and Tamil.
The celebration of the nine days for the indomitable spirit of the female energy would have easily incorporated this tradition since these dolls would have been regular playthings for the many girls and women in a typical large joint family in the 19th and 20th century Tamil Nadu. The tradition is predominantly a Brahmin one. The scale was purely dependent on affluence and artistic inclination. It became a way for women to express their creative and social energies and create an identity for themselves excluding the men in the homes. In addition to the visual display of dolls, the singing of songs, serving of different types of sundal (a dry legume-lentil snack) completed the wholesome sensorial experience.
Golu dolls are, due to their fragile nature hard to come by for sale even though they were stored away after the nine-day festival. In the Thanjavur region, it is believed they were made by the Raju caste who also did repousse work for Vahanas and painted the Thanjavur paintings. Older 19th century dolls for affluent patrons were even made with a very fine powder of wood dust mixed with Tamarind seed paste – the same material used for the relief work in Thanjavur paintings. These were painted or gilded. The paint used is largely chemical paints since they were in free circulation in the Tamil country since the 19th century. Terracotta dolls were either made free hand or through moulds and older dolls, like these here, are known for the fine brushstrokes of the facial features (especially eyebrows and moustaches as seen in this collection) and the delicate moulding of top knots (like the Krishna seated on Adisesha image) that show careful attention to detail.
While divine subjects were popular, the spirit of the golu festival was always inclusivity and playfulness so, the lower levels of the steps in which these dolls were displayed were filled with day-to-day scenes, children, people from various castes and communities and animals as well. Over and above the terracotta doll display, for the more creative minded, the floor around the steps were used to create diorama type scenes of a park, playground etc. using a layer of mud with quick growing seeds sprouting for the nine days of the display.
In the 20th century, golu doll makers were across Tamil Nadu and they were very open and creative in their themes shown here are the “poikaal kudirai” dancer (a popular village art form of a dancer inside the model of a horse) and two kotwals or policemen of the British era. It is not uncommon to find dolls that depict scenes from the oleographs of Ravi Varma or Vasudeo Pandya. Feature films were another inspiration. It is highly likely that the dolls here of the girl holding a flower vase could have been inspired by the famous actress of that time, “Baby” Saroja. The dog she is holding in her hand and the flower basket could have been inspired by English Staffordshire figures that were also imported into India at that time.
Among the religious subjects, the stories of Krishna and Rama were popular. Special mention must be made of the many dolls that were made on the Tamil God Muruga – there are three in this collection. It is unfortunate that not only have many old dolls been destroyed due to the ravages of time, the loss of interest in the festival as children moved abroad but there is no comprehensive study or documentation of this tradition. They are an important form of one of the worlds most ancient art forms of moulding clay, the tradition worked across castes and got people together both in the display and in the commercial transactions. Several of these dolls especially the older ones deserve the same appreciation a finely crafted bronze and a painting since they are just that – an amalgamation of sculpture and painting.
- Pradeep Chakravarthy
(Behaviourist and Historian)

Hammer Price :
8,500
+ Buyer premium (10 %)
 850.00
Total
9,350
The lot has ended
Description

This lot offers Golu dolls of the Tridevi and Karthikeya. Golu Dolls of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati were given the highest placement during the nine days of worship. Here we find the goddess Meenakshi, an incarnation of Parvati. 

a) Lakshmi
15 x 6 x 5.25 in. 

b) Meenakshi
16.25 x 7 x 6 in.

c) Saraswati
15 x 6 x 4.5 in.

d) Karthikeya
16.5 x 7 x 6 in.


The word “golu” is a Telugu word meaning display. It was customary in the Telugu speaking Nayak palaces, to have a “golu mantapa” or a pavilion that usually faced a garden for the king to be on display in all his finery for his subjects to see him or for artists to entertain him. The tradition of displaying painted terracotta dolls during the nine days of Navaratri or Dussehra probably originated in the times of the Maratha kings of Thanjavur who succeeded the Nayaks and continued the practice of using Telugu as a court language in addition to Marathi and Tamil.
The celebration of the nine days for the indomitable spirit of the female energy would have easily incorporated this tradition since these dolls would have been regular playthings for the many girls and women in a typical large joint family in the 19th and 20th century Tamil Nadu. The tradition is predominantly a Brahmin one. The scale was purely dependent on affluence and artistic inclination. It became a way for women to express their creative and social energies and create an identity for themselves excluding the men in the homes. In addition to the visual display of dolls, the singing of songs, serving of different types of sundal (a dry legume-lentil snack) completed the wholesome sensorial experience.
Golu dolls are, due to their fragile nature hard to come by for sale even though they were stored away after the nine-day festival. In the Thanjavur region, it is believed they were made by the Raju caste who also did repousse work for Vahanas and painted the Thanjavur paintings. Older 19th century dolls for affluent patrons were even made with a very fine powder of wood dust mixed with Tamarind seed paste – the same material used for the relief work in Thanjavur paintings. These were painted or gilded. The paint used is largely chemical paints since they were in free circulation in the Tamil country since the 19th century. Terracotta dolls were either made free hand or through moulds and older dolls, like these here, are known for the fine brushstrokes of the facial features (especially eyebrows and moustaches as seen in this collection) and the delicate moulding of top knots (like the Krishna seated on Adisesha image) that show careful attention to detail.
While divine subjects were popular, the spirit of the golu festival was always inclusivity and playfulness so, the lower levels of the steps in which these dolls were displayed were filled with day-to-day scenes, children, people from various castes and communities and animals as well. Over and above the terracotta doll display, for the more creative minded, the floor around the steps were used to create diorama type scenes of a park, playground etc. using a layer of mud with quick growing seeds sprouting for the nine days of the display.
In the 20th century, golu doll makers were across Tamil Nadu and they were very open and creative in their themes shown here are the “poikaal kudirai” dancer (a popular village art form of a dancer inside the model of a horse) and two kotwals or policemen of the British era. It is not uncommon to find dolls that depict scenes from the oleographs of Ravi Varma or Vasudeo Pandya. Feature films were another inspiration. It is highly likely that the dolls here of the girl holding a flower vase could have been inspired by the famous actress of that time, “Baby” Saroja. The dog she is holding in her hand and the flower basket could have been inspired by English Staffordshire figures that were also imported into India at that time.
Among the religious subjects, the stories of Krishna and Rama were popular. Special mention must be made of the many dolls that were made on the Tamil God Muruga – there are three in this collection. It is unfortunate that not only have many old dolls been destroyed due to the ravages of time, the loss of interest in the festival as children moved abroad but there is no comprehensive study or documentation of this tradition. They are an important form of one of the worlds most ancient art forms of moulding clay, the tradition worked across castes and got people together both in the display and in the commercial transactions. Several of these dolls especially the older ones deserve the same appreciation a finely crafted bronze and a painting since they are just that – an amalgamation of sculpture and painting.
- Pradeep Chakravarthy
(Behaviourist and Historian)

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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

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