Yudhishtira enters Heaven

measurements: 85x61x62 cm

This special glass display case is an absolute highlight in my collection. The frame was individually made for the carving it contains. The scene from the Mahabharata shows Yudhishtira at the gates of heaven, accompanied by a dog. This dog is the god Yama, who has assumed this form in order to put Yudhishtira to a test.
In the upper part of the carving are four apsaras, celestial beings. They spread out their robes with their arms, with the help of which they can fly.
Agni appears in the center. The flames and the cave could represent the hell-like transition to the other world, in which a test was imposed on Yudhishtira. However, this is only my own interpretation.
The special feature of this museum-like piece is that it was a gift from the Indonesian Foreign Minister and Vice President Adam Malik. The dedication was carved onto the frame of the display case. He gave it to a lawyer for Asian law who came from Java and started a family with a German woman. For personal reasons, he gave the carving away and his daughter sold it to me.
It is not known whether the carving was in Malik's private collection before he gave it away. Malik maintained a private museum with outstanding and important Indonesian art. To the great regret of the art world, this museum was closed due to dilapidation and financial problems. Many irretrievable works of art were lost in untraceable ways. What happened to the rest? I have no information on this. However, the end of the Malik collection is a particularly inglorious example of how art is handled.