INDONESIA, EAST JAVA, 15TH CENTURY

An important element within Javanese sculpture is human touch. In the upper galleries of Candi Borobudur, when the bodhisattva Samantabhadra leads the prince Sudhana into the formless realm, the two figures are represented with their hands intertwined. Their simple touch represents the union of the earthly and the divine. For other examples of figures holding hands, see J. Fontein, The Sculpture of Indonesia, 1990, p. 172, and p. 209, cat. no. 55.