Chola bronze statuary

Type Object Region South India Time c. 850–1300

A tradition of casting Hindu deity bronzes by the lost-wax method in the Chola dynasty of South India, especially famous for Nataraja bronzes, fusing…

Timeline

c. 850–1000Thanjavur · Tamil NaduThe Chola dynasty patronized great Shaiva temples; temple workshops cast movable deity images by the lost-wax method for daily worship and festival processions (utsava), forming a bronze statuary system distinct from stone sculpture.
1031–1040Thanjavur · Tamil NaduWhen the Chola Empire controlled South India and Sri Lanka, centers such as the Brihadisvara Temple cast large numbers of Nataraja Shiva and Parvati bronzes, elegant in form and precise in proportion, becoming models of South Indian religious art.
c. 1000–1200Kumbakonam · Tamil NaduTemple copper-plate inscriptions record the division of labor of casting workshops (sthapati), metal alloys, and systems of dedication; Chola bronze statuary expanded from court patronage into an institutionalized religious industry covering the Tamil region.

Sources

The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India — Vidya Dehejia (2002)
Great Living Chola Temples https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/250/