Page 73 - Christies March 14 2017 Tibetan Bronzes NYC

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A BUFF SANDSTONE FIGURE OF KUBERA

VIETNAM, OC EO REGION, 5TH/6TH CENTURY
18º in. (46.5 cm.) high
$20,000-30,000

PROVENANCE

Private Collection, United Kingdom, acquired in Bathe, Oc-Eo,
Vietnam in the early 1900s; thence by descent.
Acquired by the current owner from Christie’s South Kensington,
16 June 1994, lot 173.
越南 喔㕭文化 五/六世紀 砂岩俱毘羅像
Óc Eo was part of the Funan kingdom that fourished in the Mekong
Delta between the frst and sixth centuries. By the third or fourth
century, a 43-mile-long road connected Óc Eo to Angkor
Borei, situating it between the fourishing Khmer
Empire, and important international maritime
trade routes accessible by the Mekong River.
Due to this strategic location, Óc Eo became the
economic and cultural center of the Mekong
Delta, drawing traders and artists to this
hotbed of cultural exchange to experience
the wealth of foreign infuences from all
over South and Southeast Asia, including
India. This “crossroads of Southeast
Asia” stimulated a fourishing of the
local artistic idiom.

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