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Bronze Shiva Nataraja. South India. Circa 1900. Height: 45cm.

Text from ebay listing:

This large, heavy, copper-rich, finely cast "lost-wax" bronze with chased detail is of Shiva Nataraja.  Although there is no mandorla, it is not missing, in spite having the two lugs on the plinth top to fasten one!  This is because the bronze was deliberately cast without a mandorla, as it is a scaled-down copy of a famous Nataraja bronze from the Chola period, now in the Government Museum in Madras (the original bronze was from Tinruvenlangadu in Chittoor).  This copy was probably available for sale to pilgrims in the area inspired by their darshan and puja (ritual eye-contact and prayer) with this famous Nataraja.