Page 76 - Indian and Himilayan Art

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF LAWRENCE AND SHIRLEY PHILLIPS

265
A SANDSTONE FIGURE OF A SEATED BUDDHA
PRE-ANGKOR PERIOD, ANGKOR BOREI STYLE,
7TH CENTURY
19 in. (48.2 cm.) high
$30,000-50,000

PROVENANCE:

with Spink & Son, London, by 1996.
Christie’s Amsterdam, 2 November 1999, lot 135.

PUBLISHED:

Spink & Son, Legacies of Ancient Civilisations:
A Selection of Indian and South-East Asian Works of Art,
London, 1996, no.35
S. Wattanavrangkul, Outstanding Sculptures of
Buddhism and Hindu Gods, Bangkok, 2003, p. 136
S. Little, “Images of the Buddha from the Michael
Phillips Collection,” Arts of Asia, Jan-Feb 2013, p.108,
fg.16
Angkor Borei was an important early center of
Buddhism and Buddhist temple construction before
the establishment of the Khmer Empire. The present
fgure is characteristic of Angkor Borei sculpture, as
seen in the subtle protuberance of the ushnisha and
the large snail-shell curls. Sculpture from this early
period exhibits the naturalism and grace that echoes
the treatment of the body in Gupta-period India, where
ornamentation is minimized to emphasize the smooth
volume of the form. Note how the thin drapery closely
follows the body, gently modeling the belly. For another
example from Angkor Borei, this one a standing fgure
exhibiting the same facial features and treatment of the
body, see H. Jessup and T. Zéphir, Millennium of Glory,
Washington, 1997, pp.146-7, fg.no.2.

Spink & Son, Legacies of Ancient Civilisations: A Selection of Indian and
South-East Asian Works of Art, London, 1996, cover and p.18