Kalamandu
Oku Bahal Shilpa

Kurukulla

Oxidized copper, bow drawn, painted face

NPR 78,000

Quantity

KLM-KURUKU-PF-08

Four-armed and dancing, drawing a bow strung with flowers and nocked with a flower arrow. Red dakini of magnetising activity. Face painted, body left dark, the bow cast separately and seated across the upper hands.

What to expect from this order

  • Cast by hand in a named workshop

    Made by Oku Bahal Shilpa in the Kathmandu valley, and paid for directly. About the workshop

  • Dispatched in two working days

    Tracked the whole way. Anything over 10 kg travels by freight on a booked slot. Shipping and delivery

  • Nothing charged now

    Pay the courier on delivery, or by wallet or bank transfer once we have confirmed the piece. How paying works

  • 14 days to change your mind

    Return it within 14 days of delivery, in the condition it arrived in. Refund policy

The detail

Measurements, materials and how this one was made — the facts a photograph cannot carry.

Deity
Kurukulla
Finish
Painted face
Posture
Dancing
Inlay
None

Material
Copper

Technique
Lost-wax cast
Origin district
Lalitpur (Patan)
Artisan
Oku Bahal workshop, Patan

Width
9.3 cm
Length
7.7 cm
Height
20.3 cm
Weight
2.2 kg

The bow is the whole piece. Strung between two hands with a gap of air behind it, it has to be straight, thin and strong at once — cast thick and it looks like a stick, cast thin and it will not survive shipping. The workshop casts three for every one that gets used.

Cast by the lost-wax method the Newar workshops of Patan have used for roughly a thousand years. The artisan models the figure in wax, encases it in a clay and rice-husk mould, fires the mould so the wax runs out, and pours molten metal into the void that is left. The mould is broken to release the casting, so no two pieces from it can ever be identical. Chasing, filing and detailing the face are then done entirely by hand — the slowest part of the work, and the part that decides whether a statue is any good.

The face is hand-painted in gold and mineral pigment and is the most fragile part of the piece. Do not touch or wipe the face at all. Dust the body with a dry, soft cloth, always working away from the face. No water, no polish, no solvent. Keep out of direct sun, which fades the pigment, and away from damp.

In-stock pieces are dispatched within two working days and tracked all the way. Pieces over 10 kg travel by freight on a booked slot rather than by parcel carrier.

You can return it within 14 days of delivery, in the condition it arrived in. If you changed your mind you pay the return postage; if it was faulty or damaged in transit, we do. The refund policy sets out how, and the shipping policy covers costs and timings.

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