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Lot Essay
The present figure stands on powerful legs with elegantly delineated musculature above the knees, visible below the short and closely fitting 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 a subtle smile. The elaborate chignon is piled behind an abstracted tiara, secured with a rudraksha necklace and adorned at the 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-defined muscular legs bear particular resemblance to two renowned Bayon sculptures in the collection of the Musée Guimet illustrated by Jessup and T. Zéphir in Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory, 1997, p.305, cat. no. 92 and pp. 330-331, cat. no. 112. The first is a kneeling figure of a Buddhist goddess which, also portrait-like in nature, has been identified 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 figure in this particular narrative context.
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-defined muscular legs bear particular resemblance to two renowned Bayon sculptures in the collection of the Musée Guimet illustrated by Jessup and T. Zéphir in Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory, 1997, p.305, cat. no. 92 and pp. 330-331, cat. no. 112. The first is a kneeling figure of a Buddhist goddess which, also portrait-like in nature, has been identified 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 figure in this particular narrative context.