CAMBODGE, KHMER, STYLE DE KOH KER, MILIEU DU XEME SIECLE

This female figure is clad in a pleated sampot with the upper section falling over the belt to the front. The lower section of the robe flares slightly out, a characteristic of the Koh Ker style. Incised beauty lines around neck and just below her breasts are the only body ornamentations. Likely, she was adorned with real, perhaps gold ornaments. The pierced earlobes suggest that real ear ornaments were added during ceremonies. As both arms are broken it will remain impossible to identify her correctly. During this period both Hindu goddesses Lakshmi and Uma were widely worshipped. However her headdress is ornamented with a tiered octagonal chignon cover that is typical for Koh Ker Vishnu examples and thus it is not to be excluded that she represents Lakshmi, his consort.