Hand-Painted Vietnam White Marble Saraswati Standing on Her Swan in a Red-Bordered Sari, 33in

Saraswati as the pandal knows her

This 33-inch murti shows Saraswati standing, upright and full length, with both feet set on the back of her swan, the hamsa, which rests on a low carved lotus. It is the form that fills school halls and community pandals on Saraswati Puja morning: the goddess on her feet, playing for the students who come to her with their books and pens. A standing figure reads from across a crowded room in a way a seated one does not, which is why it suits a stage or a raised platform at the front of a hall.

Four arms, two on each side

She has four arms and no more, two on each side of the body. The front pair play the veena held across her chest, one hand on the strings and one steadying the neck. The back right hand holds an akshamala, the rosary of practice, and the back left raises a palm-leaf book, the text she gives to those who study. Her face is young and calm, the eyes softly lowered, with a small tilak and a gentle smile under a tall crown and a round halo.

White stone with a red-bordered sari

The figure is carved in Vietnam white marble, a bright, cool white stone with fine crystalline grain, then hand-painted. The sari stays white with a red border running along the pallu and the hem, the laal paar that Bengali households dress Saraswati in every year. The crown and jewellery are picked out in gold, the skin is given a soft warm tone, and the swan and the lotus base are left as plain white stone so the painted figure stands clear above them. The surface under the paint carries a soft satin polish.

Where it belongs

At 33 inches this is a pandal-scale piece: tall enough to lead a school's Saraswati Puja or a neighbourhood celebration, and steady enough on its lotus base to stay in place for the whole festival and be brought out again the next year. It also suits a large home mandir in a Bengali household, or a music school or library that keeps Saraswati in view all year. Tell us the hall or the platform it will stand on, and we will advise on height, base and the colours of the painted border.