Page 50 - Irving Collection Part II Chinese Art

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L A C Q U E R • J A D E • B R O N Z E • I N K T H E R V I N G C O L L E C T I O N 髹金飾玉 - 歐雲伉儷珍藏

This fgure dates from the Angkor Wat period, in the twelfth century, Many four-armed male fgures from the Angkor Wat period depict the
when the Khmer Empire was at its territorial zenith. This starts with Hindu god Vishnu, unsurprisingly, given the religious beliefs of Suryavarman
the reign of Suryavarman II (r. 1113-1145), who ordered the construction II. Towards the end of the twelfth century, images of Lokeshvara
of Angkor Wat, the largest temple of the Angkor period, dedicated to (Avalokiteshvara) and other Buddhist deities began to proliferate.
Vishnu. The last great king of the period, Jayavarman VII (r. 1181-1218), Representations of Vishnu and Lokeshvara during this time are almost
expanded into the territories of the Champa to the east. Jayavarman VII stylistically indistinguishable, save for their iconographic features. It is
also adopted Mahayana Buddhism as the oficial state religion, replacing likely the artists of the later Angkor Wat period adopted the iconometry of
the cult of Vishnu which had predominated in the Khmer Empire for Vishnu images when developing representations of Buddhist deities. See,
previous centuries. for example, a sandstone fgure of Lokeshvara from the Robert Hatfeld
Ellsworth Collection, sold at Christie’s, New York, 17 March 2015, lot 36.
Stylistically, the sculpture of the Angkor Wat period is marked by a return The image can only be identifed by the presence of the diminutive Amitabha
to the somewhat angular and upright modeling of the periods preceding efigy at the front of the chignon, as the other iconographic markers which
the Baphuon style of the eleventh century. This angularity can be seen in would have been held in the four arms are missing. In the present fgure,
the wide shoulders and hips of the upper torso, as well as in the drapery there is a small triangular, shaped loss in the same place that could once
of the sampot, which sits roughly straight across the hips, and in the have been an Amitabha image. The only remaining iconographic identifer
fsh-tail folds which fall in heavy vertical pleats, in contrast to the earlier is the object held in the proper left upper hand, although it is not entirely
Baphuon period in which the drapery is full of curling fourishes. The legible. While it could be a fragmentary representation of the conch shell, an
size of sculpture from the Angkor Wat period, however, is generally in identifer of Vishnu, the horizontal striations on either end possibly indicate it
line with the more diminutive Baphuon-period works, in contrast to the could be a sutra manuscript, which is an attribute of Lokeshvara.
monumental sculpture of the tenth century and earlier.

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