Page 72 - Christies March 14 2017 Tibetan Bronzes NYC

D246
A BUFF SANDSTONE FIGURE OF SHIVA

KHMER, ANGKOR PERIOD, BAYON STYLE,
12TH/13TH CENTURY
43æ in. (111 cm.) high
$80,000-120,000

PROVENANCE

Christian Humann (d. 1981), Switzerland, by 1972, named the
Pan-Asian Collection by 1977.
Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, acquired by 1982.

EXHIBITED

On loan to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1972
(L72.14.114).
Exhibited at the Denver Art Museum, 1977 (52.1977).
高棉 吳哥窟時期 巴永風格 十二/十三世紀 砂岩濕婆像

This fgure stands on powerful legs with elegantly delineated
musculature above the knees, visible below the short and closely
ftting sampot. The garment is centered by an anchor-shaped panel
in front of the thighs and secured with an elaborate belt composed
of rosette ornaments and pendent festoons. The torso is slender,
adorned only with three gentle lines incised across the navel. The
sloping shoulders rise to a slender neck, and the face bears a
placid expression consistent with Buddhist imagery in circulation
at the time. The eyes are nearly closed and the mouth is held in
the classic “Khmer smile,” which can be described as mysterious
or restrained. The elaborate chignon is piled behind an abstracted
tiara, secured with a rudraksha necklace and adorned at top with a
strand of pearls, identifying him as as a Brahmin ascetic.

Bayon sculpture is characterized by a more earthly and human
aesthetic of beauty that favored idealized portraits. Here, the
slender face, narrow torso, and well-defned muscular legs bear
particular resemblance to two renowned Bayon sculptures in
the collection of the Musée Guimet (see H. Jessup and T. Zéphir,
Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory,
1997, p.305, cat.no.92 and pp.330-331, cat.no.112). The frst is a
kneeling fgure of a Buddhist goddess which, also portrait-like
nature, has been identifed as Jayavarman VII’s beloved queen,
Jayarajadevi. The second is a narrative relief depicting Shiva
disguised as a Brahmin ascetic who comes to the forest to
interrupt Parvati while she performs penance (tapas). When Shiva
reveals himself, he retains the pointed beard which is also depicted
in this sculpture, possibly placing the fgure in this particular
narrative context.

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